Sweet Revenge
by MickeyRos
Summary: Sequel to Bitter Vengeance, five years have past and someone wants revenge ... but who could it be and why? Chapter 13 UP!
1. Prologue and 1

**Prologue**

It was a bright, early morning when she saw the newscast. The interview was short only a couple of minutes but long enough to show exactly everything that had been taken from her.

_"… And we're back and talking with Chloe Kiriakis, the star of the movie version of Phantom of the Opera. It's good to have you here with us this morning, Chloe."_

_Chloe smiled. "Well, I'm glad to be here."_

_"I understand that when you were first asked to take the lead role in this movie that you turned it down?" Allison the bubbly news reporter asked._

_"Yes, I was on hiatus from my professional career when my agent was contacted about the role. After I had my son Tristian I decided to take some time off to be with him and my family. To take a hiatus from my career was a very hard decision for me to make but, at the same time I hadn't taken hardly time off after my daughter was born early on in my career. The time just seemed right with Tristian's birth putting my career on hold was something I really wanted to do. So my agent contacted me after my son had turned two and asked if I would consider the role. At that time I just wasn't quite ready to leave my son so I declined to offer."_

_Allison nodded. "Then she called you a couple months later offering you the lead role again."_

_"Yes," Chloe swept her elegantly gray-streaked sable hair off her shoulder. "I was offered the role again and after I discussing this with my family I told her I would make a decision. I discussed the consequences of taking on this movie with my husband and my daughter Lily, who was 12 at the time."_

_"Your husband being Philip Kiriakis," Allison offered as the screen showed a picture of the couple at a public event both dressed to the nines in soft tones of blue. _

_"Yes, Philip and I both have very public professional lives but at the same time we are both very private about what goes on in our personal life. Taking on a movie, which would take my family into the public eye, is something that I take very serious. Being this open to the public allows for a lot of personal family things to become public knowledge. I wasn't sure if I was ready or even willing to open myself and my family to that." She paused to sip from her glass of water. However, both my husband and my daughter really encouraged me to take the role. They thought it would be something that I could really sink my teeth into so I accepted the role."_

_"Is it a different experience being on stage performing or doing a movie?"_

_"I think it's a different experience. I've done cameos before in a couple different movies so I understand how the whole process. Performing on stage will always be my first love but I definitely enjoy doing movies as well. Performing in general is just something I love to do."_

_Allison turned toward the camera, "when we come back we'll talk to Chloe about her family and what it's like being married to Philip Kiriakis."_

"I'll just bet, married to the man that should have been mine." The woman replied fast-forwarding her tape to go to the interview. She stopped it when the interview came back on and pressed play.

_"… So I understand that you and Philip have been married for seven years now? But, you've reportedly have called it a twenty-year love affair."_

_Chloe laughed lightly. "Philip and I have known each other for twenty-four years. Starting all the way back when we were in high school together. I've always felt that we've had special … connection. When I was eighteen I was diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia._ _And I had to have a bone marrow transplant. Philip was tested and he was a match, he saved my life when we were just eighteen years old. We have a bond, its unbreakable between the two of us." The camera focused in on her face, the sincerity in her eyes so pure and true that it could only be real._

_"So would you say that you and Philip are soul mates?"_

_"Um, no Philip and I aren't soul mates, our bond, I think goes above and beyond just that of a soul mate. A soul mate is someone I think you have a unique connection with … someone who is a friend. The bond between Philip and I isn't made of friendship, its made of love pure and simple. He's my husband, my lover, he's my confidante." A picture of Chloe and Philip flashed before the screen, this one more recent than the last. It was a photo of them embraced, Philip behind her with his arm around her waist looking down into her face as she stared back at him. "It's a relationship that's grown from when were just teenagers to now a-a wonderful marriage."_

"Listen to her babble about how _precious_ her marriage is. Ugh, I can't stand her talking about a marriage that should have been mine, children that should have been mine,"

_"… my daughter Lily is fourteen years old and my son Tristian is now five years old. They are the joys of my life. Regardless of anything that's happening in my life they can make me feel 100 better." A picture of Chloe with Lily taken a movie premiere flashed onto the screen._

_The reported nodded smiling, then turn toward the camera. "Well, we're out of time this morning. This is Chloe Kiriakis starring in the movie version of Phantom of the Opera that opens nationwide next month." She turned to Chloe. "Chloe, it was lovely meeting you. I hope that you'll come back and talk with us again after the movie comes out this summer. _

_Chloe smiled brightly. "I'd love to, it's been my pleasure."_

_The reported turned back to the camera. "Now back to you in the studio Tom …"_

Turning off the television, she clicked the stop button on the VCR. "Well I'll tell you what Mrs. Chloe Kiriakis, your happiness is about to end. I will have everything that was supposed to be mine. I will have it all, the children, the name, and the prestige of being a Kiriakis." She said throwing a knife into the wall where black and white photos of the Kiriakis family lined the walls.

**Chapter One (One Month Later in New York)**

The sun was rising in the New York skyline as a sleek sliver Mercedes drove past the gated entrance of Kiriakis Estate on the Upper East Side of New York. The extravagant car drove into the driveway of the mansion. The car came to a stop and out stepped Philip and Chloe Kiriakis.

Philip strolled around to the back of the car to grab a small bag from the trunk before walking to meet his wife as she opened the front door to the mansion, with a private key code. She stepped through the front door and waited for him to follow her before shutting the door. The mansion had an automatic alarm system/lock so that whenever the door closed the system was automatically activated. The Kiriakis Mansion was a mere seven years old. Philip and Chloe had the house built for them when they returned to the city to take up residence and it suited their needs perfectly. It was a four-levels with ten bedrooms, six bathrooms home with private security passageways built in throughout the house. Amongst the amenities for the house included a private library/office for Philip, a large dining area that could be used to business dinners, a living area, two dens (one for adults which was also used for business and one for the children used as a playroom), a large kitchen with a dining table, an indoor pool, hot tub, a veranda that led outside to a manicured garden and an exercise room. In short, the house was built with both comfort and luxury in mind.

After going to his office to check for any messages left on his voicemail since he'd last checked (before he and Chloe had left Eixel and headed for home), Philip headed up the spiral staircase to the families wing of bedrooms on the east side of the house. The house was broken into two sections the east wing and the west wing; the west wing being primarily reserved for guests. As he headed down the hallway, he stopped just before entering the inner domain of his home to access his security system to place the house under a level one secured area, which meant for the grounds to monitored for any intrusion by car or on foot outside the house as well as for the security cameras to change discs. The security system in the house was top of line, it allowed for tiny cameras to be placed all around the property with the explicit purpose of making sure every inch of the property was secure. The cameras did not record on tapes instead they recorded on CDs that could only be seen on a specific laptop computer that few people with the exception of family even knew about. Ensuring that the house was secure he headed on through the sitting room and entered his bedroom.

Chloe was standing before the mirror taking off her earrings when her husband walked into the room. Placing the diamond studs into her jewelry box she started to unbutton her blouse. "Any messages?" She asked as she slipped off her silk blouse.

"No, nothing for business and nothing from Lily or Nicky." Philip answered from his position on a small chair as he took off his shoes.

Chloe smiled wryly as she slipped of her black pants leaving her in a camisole and silk panties. "Not even on a school day has our daughter ever been up at this hour."

"True, I guess she's her father's daughter, after all." He replied moving to stand behind his wife as she brushed her long liberally streaked gray hair. His hands settled on her waist as he pulled her back to lean against him. "Aren't you glad to be home?"

"Hmm, yes I am definitely glad to be home." She tilted her head to rest on his shoulder as he nuzzled her neck. "Although, seeing Stefano was a joy." She turned in his arms, slipped her hands into his gray streaked blonde hair, "aren't you?"

"Oh absolutely," Philip declared before leaning down to place his mouth on hers as he lifted her into his arms and carried her toward their bed …

Several hours later after Philip and Chloe had awaken and showered from their early morning tryst, they had made a late lunch together and ate it on the veranda. It was a very laid back sort of atmosphere for them as they relaxed in their home.

"When are our children returning home?" Philip asked from where he sat drinking coffee.

"In a day or two, the last time I talked to my mother was before we left for Eixel and she and Craig planned to take Nicky and Lily to the Hamptons for the weekend. I think it would be good for them to enjoy themselves without having a camera anywhere in the vicinity. It seems whenever they are anywhere with me lately there's always someone with camera intruding on the scene. It's good that they at least get a weekend where there aren't any reporters following them or trying to take pictures of them." Philip nodded completely understanding Chloe's need for their children to get away from their parents public status for a while to just be normal children. It was getting harder for Chloe to be seen on the street these days without being recognized since her movie was still doing incredibly well in the box office so people tended to recognize her now, more often, than not.

"Somehow I don't think Lily minds as much as we do that people take her picture whenever she's out with you, she simply loves the camera."

"Yes, I know," she grimaced. Every since Lily had been scouted by a director for a role in a movie a year before she had fallen instantly in love with everything about the acting experience including the paparazzi much to her parent's dismay. "That's precisely the reason I'm glad my mother has her for the time being."

A buzz came out over the intercom system by the veranda doorway, signaling that someone was at the gated entrance. "Were you expecting anyone?" Philip questioned rising from his position at the cushioned chairs, he pressed button on the intercom.

"No, I haven't even called anyone to tell them that we are home yet."

"Yes," Philip said over the speaker.

"Philip, it's Rex, I need to speak with you."

Philip frowned. "We're in the lounge, I'll buzz you in." He pressed another button, which would open the gates to the mansion. He clicked off the speaker and keyed in the code for the front door to open after a few minutes and moved to sit back down by Chloe once again.

"So what's up with Rex?"

"I have no idea but I'll find out momentarily." A couple minutes later Rex entered the room with his wife, Mimi. Rex was Chloe's first cousin, son of Andre Dimera. He was a tall man with dark hair and handsome with warm brown eyes. He was forty years old a mere a couple of months younger than Philip. He was introduced to Mimi at a party on Eixel given by Stefano four years earlier and from the very moment he saw her, he pursued Mimi mercilessly until she agreed to be his wife three months later then seven and a half months later Alexander Blake Dimera was born.

"Mimi I didn't expect to see you with Rex. Where's my adorable godson?" Chloe asked as she stood to kiss her cousin's cheek and hug Mimi.

"Oh, he's at home getting some sleep. He had a very busy day," glancing at her husband she grinned. "His Daddy took him to the zoo and then to a baseball game. So he was very tired when he came home today." She hugged the taller woman back and released her as Chloe moved to return sitting next to Philip. "So how was your trip to see Stefano?"

"Well, you know Grandfather, he was a little upset that Philip and I didn't bring Lily and Nicky down to see him. But, you know how he can be when he wants something so I promised to have them come out later after Lily's dance camp is finished." She settled down next to her husband, resting her hand on his thigh. "But, I'm sure you didn't come here to discuss our trip so what brings you here? Philip and I were planning on spending tonight alone, since the staff and our children aren't home."

"Relax, Chloe, the reason I came is important. Have you talked to Lucas yet?" Rex questioned.

"Not yet why? Did something happen that we need to discuss?"

"I-it would be better for Lucas to explain it to you because it's fairly complicated." Rex suggested lightly knowing that whatever Lucas had to say that they didn't want either of their wives to know about just yet.

Sighing Chloe removed her hand from Philip's leg. "You might as well go ahead and fix whatever needs fixing." He started to stand about to walk away only to have Chloe pull him back as he leaned down to be eye level with her. "Don't be too long." He brushed his lips against hers then rose.

"I won't." He declared to headed down the hallway toward his office, Rex following behind him.

After watching their husbands' head out of the veranda, Chloe tucked her legs under as she sipped from her coffee mug.

"Sorry about this, Chloe. Rex and I didn't mean to ruin your night."

"Mmm …" She waved the apology away. "It's okay, I'm sure that it was something important that couldn't wait. So don't worry about it. Speaking of your unscheduled visit – do you have any idea what all this secrecy is about, I noticed the swift evacuation into the office."

"I'm not sure but I believe it was something to do with an employee at Titan. But, as usual Rex wouldn't give me all of the details. He just said he had to speak with Philip before he said anything." She shrugged. "So tell me about the trip to Eixel, wasn't it refreshing to get away from the limelight?"

"It was a complete relief, I almost forgot I was supposed to be there on business. Tell me all about my god son's his first baseball game?" She requested setting her mug aside as she lean forward and began to drill Mimi for details.

Meanwhile, Philip was in his office with Rex and on the speakerphone Lucas.

"What's going on, Lucas? Obviously, you have a better idea than I do."

"I don't know Philip which is why I've been trying to get in touch with you. Shawn's people only caught the trail after a coworker mentioned that she hadn't heard from the girl for a couple of weeks now. I can't make heads or tails out of the files she left but it doesn't look good. All I can say is that she knew exactly what she was doing and what files to tap into. Shawn and I couldn't figure out what the connection was between files and the girl. Anyway, I figured you should probably come out and take a look for yourself."

"Do you think it's that serious Lucas?"

"Like I said before Rex, it would probably be best if you both just come check this out personally. Not only does it involve Titan but Phoenix Enterprises as well. I haven't told Mom or Sami yet because I don't want to alarm them over nothing. But, let's just say keeping secrets from Sami isn't a strong point for me."

"Okay, okay, Rex and I can take the jet and be there later tonight." He clicked off the speakerphone and moved to sit down on the desk. He opened a small black case and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it.

"Do you think its Brady?" Rex asked taking a seat in a chair across from Philip.

"Honestly," Rex nodded. "I don't know this isn't my nephew's normal style." He exhaled letting out a stream of smoke. "Besides, he's been living in the 'Glades the last couple of years. There's been no movement on his end. I would know if he's been up to something." He flicked the cigarette into an ashtray. "In any case I get the feeling that this is something completely different." He stubbed out his cigarette, standing up. "I'm going to tell my wife that I'm leaving and pack a bag."

"I'll do the same since I want to speak with my father anyway." Both men left the office to their wives that they would be leaving for Salem immediately on business.

Chloe and Mimi were still sitting in the veranda when their husbands returned almost twenty minutes later. When they arrived Chloe immediately knew that something was up from the gleam in Philip's eyes.

"What's going on, is something wrong?" Before Philip could even respond, she guessed as he came to sit on the ledge of the chair in front of her legs. "You're going to Salem aren't you?"

"Yes, how did you know?" He replied mildly surprised that she had guessed so easily.

Chloe scrunched her nose as she plucked at his black shirt, "you smell like smoke. And you only smell like smoke when something's bothering you … that usually reeks of Salem. So when are you leaving?"

"As soon as the jet's ready to go. Rex," he nodded to his cousin-in-law. "And I, both will be going." Chloe nodded. Even though, he would have liked to invite her, he knew that she'd say no. Every since they'd left Salem seven years earlier she hadn't been back saying that she had no reason to return since her parents had moved to New York. Besides, neither she nor Philip had any love lost for Salem.

"You're leaving?" Mimi asked her husband surprised as she looked up into his beautiful brown eyes.

"Yes, I want to check in with my father." Mimi stood up before her husband pulling on his lightweight jacket.

"Xander and I could come with you," she offered expecting him to take her along.

"No-no, you and Alex should stay here." He rubbed her arms as he peered into her loving green eyes. " I'll be back soon." Even though, Mimi had stopped working for Titan after their marriage and the birth of their son, Rex knew that if she came it would only be a matter of time before she knew exactly what was going on.

"Yeah Meems, stay I know Lily will love to see you when she gets back." Chloe declared stretching her long legs before she rose from the couch.

Mimi nodded as she clasped Rex's hand. "Now, that that's settled Meems and I should head home so I can pack a bag to be ready when we leave Philip."

"It should only take an hour or so for the to be ready so I'll see you there then." Philip answered as he escorted Mimi and Rex to their car. When he reentered the house, he walked to the veranda only to find that Chloe had left. Hearing the sound of water running, he headed to the kitchen to find his wife filling the teakettle with water and then placing it on the stove.

"So … is Brady responsible for whatever is you're going to Salem to investigate?" She questioned taking an Earl Grey tea bag down from a box of her flavored teas.

"No, he doesn't have anything to do with the reason why I'm going to Salem." He moved to sit on a stool at the tiled island. "It's something else entirely, but even sight unseen I'm pretty sure he has nothing to do with my 'investigation.' Lucas has something he needs me to take a look at." Chloe nodded but said nothing, which could only mean that she was perturbed. "Is something wrong you seem as if you're angry … about something?"

"I'm not angry about anything." The kettle whistled. Chloe moved back to pour some hot water into her mug with the tea bag to allow the flavor to seep in as she raised her gaze to his perceptive one. "I guess you could say that I am slightly bothered – or rather concerned about something … you."

"Me?" He replied incredulously smiling showing his pearly whites. "But, I'm perfectly fine."

"Are you?" He nodded arching a brow in confusion.

"Okay Chloe, honey, you've lost me, what are you talking about?"

Chloe moved to face Philip across the island. "You know when I married you Philip, you were a different man. You were cold, dangerous, ruthless, and arrogant … at least that's how I thought you were when we first got married. But, what I figured out is that you acted the way you did to give this image of being a person to reckon with, I'd thought of it as your business persona."

"My business persona?"

"Yes, the way you present yourself whenever you have business to attend to for Titan or Phoenix Enterprises."

"Well, I can't exactly leave my companies unattended."

"I'm not asking you to leave either of the corporations unattended because I know how much they mean to you. It's your birthright; your father left the company in your capable hands because he knew that you could be and are a good businessman. I would never ask you to give that up. But, at the same time I didn't marry the owner and CEO of two multimillion-dollar corporations. I married you Philip Kiriakis."

"What are you saying?" He asked as he watched her come around the island to stand before him sitting on the stool.

"I'm saying you can be the shrewd, ruthless, arrogant, and cold-blooded person that you have to be when you're dealing with Titan and Phoenix Enterprises. But, when you're home with Lily, Nicky, and I – I don't want that businessman here. I want the man I married, the man that spent hours going through every shopping area in New York to find his daughter the perfect birthday gift. I want the man who took time off from his busy schedule to take his four year old to see Barney live on stage, when he can't stand that purple dinosaur." She smiled as she leaned up until her lips touched his, "I want the man that knows me better than I know myself, the man that I love with all my heart."

Philip raised his hand to hold her back a moment before she could lean in and kiss him. "Wait a second what brought this on?"

"It's just something I want you to think about while you're gone, that all." She smiled before leaning in to softly kissed his lips before moving bag to get her cup of tea, draining the tea bag and adding two sugars. "By the way, Philip you might want to take the cigarettes with you when you leave otherwise she'll flush them when she gets home."

As he stared after his wife walk away he thought about what she had said. Chloe was very open about the way she felt whenever he had business with Titan or Phoenix Enterprises. In the past, she had claimed that he channeled Victor. But, as much as he wanted to change that part of his personality he couldn't because that's who he had to be in order to run these corporations successfully. Sometimes you had to be a little cutthroat to survive. And for the most part Chloe understood that but she didn't like it one bit at all. He'd naturally have to discuss that with her but first he had business he needed to figure our what was going on in Salem.

Running his hand through his gray streaked blonde hair he left the kitchen to back a bag for Salem. He made a pit stop to his office to grab his cigarettes from his office. Lily hadn't liked his occasional smoking at seven but not at 14 she absolutely detested it now and frequently did random flushings whenever she found packages laying around in his office or hidden in his desks.

* * *

Mimi closed the door walking out of Xander's room, having just checked on, her sleeping son. According to the Maxine, her son's live in nanny, he hadn't woken up since she and Rex had been gone. She entered the bedroom to see Rex just zipping his bag. 

"Finished packing?" She asked of her husband.

"Just about, I just need to grab some things from my office. How's my son?"

She smiled, "sleeping like the little angel he is. He's gone to miss you while you're gone, you know."

Turning to face his wife he grasped her hand and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. "How about you, are you going to miss me?"

She raised her arms to rest around his neck. "Of course I am, I always miss you whenever you're not here. But, like you said you'll be back soon though, right?"

"Yes, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Good." She pulled his head down to meet hers for a goodbye kiss. He tenderly nibbled on her lower lip briefly before opening her mouth her mouth more forcefully as he took over the kiss.

The phone rang. The ring was repeated twice before Rex released his wife to go answer it sighing. He picked up the phone on the fourth ring, "Yes." He listened for a minute and then replied; "Alright I'll see you there." He hung up the phone.

"Was that Philip?"

"Yes, I need to be going if I'm going to get to the airport in time." He sighed and walked to get his bag off the bed.

"Wait a minute before you leave I want you to take something with you to give to Philip." Mimi crossed the room quickly and opened a drawer on her armor she pulled out a small manila folder. She turned and handed over to Rex.

Placing his bag on the floor, he took the folder. "What is it?"

"It's a report … on Brady." Before Rex could ask her any questions she rushed on quickly. "Look I know that whatever reason you and Philip have for going to Salem is a good," Rex started to interrupt but Mimi raised her hand to hold him off. "I'm not asking what it is but I'm sure that Philip will have Brady on his list of suspects and this is just a monthly report that I have taken of Brady, the same one I have every other month."

"Meems, honey, I know you feel responsible for —,"

"I don't feel responsible for Brady, I just don't want him accused a crime that he couldn't possibly of have committed. Look, it's all in the report, just tell Philip to read it. It'll show that for the past couple months Brady hasn't had any contact with anyone but his father. He lives in a house by the beach, its secluded and far from the city. He only comes off his property when he goes to store for groceries. He doesn't have a girlfriend nor is he sleeping with anyone at the moment. He —,"

Rex interrupted her gently grasping her shoulders. "Meems don't worry about it. I know that you feel the need to protect him but you don't need to. Trust me on this Brady couldn't be further from Philip's mind." Mimi still didn't seem convinced. "If it will make you feel better I'll give him the report anyway, okay?" She nodded. "Good. Now I need to get going or I'll be late." Leaning down he brushed his lips across hers before grabbing his bag and heading out the door. "Love you."

Pulling a slight smile, Mimi nodded. "I love you, too." Rex smiled and then left the bedroom heading down to his office then to the airport to meet Philip.

* * *

Please tell me what you think 


	2. 2

_Author's Note_: Thanks for all the wonderful feedback from the Prologue and Chapter 1. Next week look for chapter 40 of SOTH. Till then here's the next chapter of Sweet Revenge enjoy.

**Chapter Two**

Philip and Rex had left for Salem the previous day. So Chloe decided to spent her time getting the estate ready for her children's return home. Although, the key house staff returned to the estate from their vacations and did the majority work around the estate. During the morning, she dealt with business, going over her schedule of personal appearances and responding to any invitations, her business manager, Amanda had left her to go over. Later that afternoon she and Mimi had lunch together. She spent the remainder of her day in her home just enjoying her solitude all the while but still missing her husband and children. Things just weren't the same when her whole family wasn't present.

Later that night she was so bored she was taking in the rich shades of blue and green, liberally augmented in the furnishing, and considering whether she should redecorate. She, Lily and Philip had all taken great lengths to decorate the house according to their moods before they had moved into the newly built house years before. Of all the rooms in the house, the living room was the one area of the house that she felt most at peace in. So it was the ideal place as any for the conversation she was having with Mimi.

"Rex was unusually closed mouth when I asked about what was going on at Titan. Did Philip tell you anything?" Mimi asked knowing of course that Philip had already spoken to his wife.

"No, not yet. I was under the impression that they, themselves, hadn't quite figured it out yet. But, once they know what happened I'm sure Philip will tell me. Have your sources been able to tell you anything?"

"No, Belle said that Shawn has been completely silent about whatever caused Philip and Rex to return to Salem. I haven't got a chance to speak with Sami yet, but I imagine the response would be pretty much the same. Now, either I'm imagining things or it would seem our husbands are doing a bit of fancy footwork to ensure that we have no way idea what's going on down there. And I don't like that one bit."

"Neither do I Meems. But short of hopping on plane to go to Salem, which is completely out of the question, I don't see what else we can do besides wait. There's only reason I could think of that Philip will keep me in the dark and that's if it concerns— Brady."

"No, Brady has nothing to do with this." Mimi protested. "I'm sure of it. Look, I realize that there is some bad blood between you and Brady but isn't it time you realize that every time something goes wrong with Titan or Phoenix, he's not at fault. He's out of your life and shouldn't be prime suspect number one every single time something goes wrong."

"Oh, I beg to differ Meems. The last time this happened we were caught off guard because we believed that Brady could never steal from his grandfather. And we were wrong. As far as I'm concerned he will always be a prime suspect, I will not be caught off guard again." Chloe knew that talking about Brady in any circumstance was a rather sore spot for Mimi. Although, Chloe wasn't sure why. So naturally they avoided the topic entirely of her dear nephew. "Look, Mimi I'm sorry. But, you know how I feel … about Brady."

"I know, I just … you know what, it doesn't matter. I need to get Xander ready for bed." Mimi said.

"Of course, kiss my godson goodnight for me."

"I will."

"Hey Mimi, since Lily and Nicky are coming home tomorrow why don't you and Xander come over for a late lunch?"

"That sounds like a plan, so I'll see you tomorrow. G'night Chloe."

"Night, Meems." Chloe hung up the phone on her end and then rose to headed to her room.

The next morning the Kiriakis household was a buzz with arrival of the children, Liliana Jade and Tristian Nikos. Chloe had gotten up early dressed in comfortable casual clothing for day as she fully expected Lily to drag her out the house once she got home to go shopping or to lunch either way, she was prepared. She was glancing over the newspaper when the security panel alerted her that someone was on the property only this time there was no buzz for her unlock the gate or doors. That could only mean one thing; Lily and Nicky had arrived home.

She stood up from the island in her grand five-star kitchen just as the front door sung open. "Mom, we're home." Lily called out from somewhere near the front door. The door closed and she could hear the footsteps of both her teenage daughter running upstairs and Nicky running down the hallway.

"Mama, where are you?" Nicky asked as he ran from room to room looking for his mother.

"I'm right here, sweetie." Chloe said as she leaned down and picked up her beautiful blonde, five-year-old son as he barreled into the kitchen and into her arms. "Oh baby, you've grown since Mama's last seen you." She said as she perched him on her hip as she kissed his baby soft cheek. "I missed you so much, did you miss me?"

"Yeah Mama, I missed you lots." Nicky wrapped his arms around Chloe's neck as he hugged her back. Nicky was a carbon copy of his father with dirty blonde hair, beautiful baby blue eyes, and dimples to kill for.

A few minutes later Nancy entered the kitchen placing her purse on the table. She hadn't changed much over the last few years just got a few more gray streaks in her fiery red hair that was still as vibrant as ever. She moved across the kitchen to kiss her daughter's cheek before retreating to sit at the breakfast bar. "How are you doing Chloe?"

"I'm fine Mother, especially now that my little man is home." Chloe leaned down and planted another kiss on Nicky's cheeks. "Did you have a good time with Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yeah, Mama. I got to do lots of fun things with Grammie and 'Randpa. 'Randpa even took me to the zoo."

"What else did you do and I hope you told Grandpa thank you."

"I did, Mama." Nicky paused as he tried to think of what other fun things he got to do while he stayed at his grandparents home. "Oh, I got to a baseball game with 'Ieran's daddy and Grandpa. And 'Ieran took me and Lily to the park to play with his dog."

"'Ieran?" Chloe asked blankly looking at her mother for an explanation.

"Kieran, you know honey, Lily's little friend. I have to say Chloe I was very surprised when Kieran came by the house, he's such nice young man and smart as a whip too. I was a little concerned at first letting Lily go out with him – considering who his parents are – but he just won me over. I can't believe you didn't tell me Lily dating already." Nancy said then noticed Chloe incredulous gaze. "Wait a minute she is allowed to date, isn't she? I mean she distinctly told me that you and Philip had decided after meeting Kieran that since he was …" her voice trailed off as she realized that Lily had lied. "Why that little minx of granddaughter. You really have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" Chloe shook her head. "And I bet you don't even know who Kieran is?" Again Chloe shook her head, Nancy sighed.

"But, 'Ieran's Lily's boyfriend." Nicky added confused as to what his mother and grandmother were talking about. "Hi Auntie MeMe." He said as he wiggled for Chloe to put him down.

"Hi Sweetie, Lily has a boyfriend?" Mimi asked as she came back into the kitchen from checking on Xander.

"Mimi, how are you doing, darling?" Nancy asked as Mimi kissed the redhead on her cheek.

"I'm doing fine Nancy and you?"

"Just great."

"Sweetie, why don't you go play with Xander in the playroom for a little while so I can talk with your Grandmother about something." Chloe suggested tacitly trying to get her son out of the kitchen so she could openly interrogate her mother about Lily's alleged boyfriend.

"Okay, Mama." And with that Nicky Kiriakis was off like a light. As he left though he realized that Lily was in trouble because his Mama had used her serious, 'I mean business,' voice.

"So Lily has a boyfriend. Chloe you didn't tell me that yesterday." Mimi said grabbing a cup and pouring herself some coffee.

"That's because I didn't know."

"I don't really know that he's her boyfriend. She introduced him as just a friend. Tristian was just a bit confused. But, honestly, Chloe don't you think you'd rather hear about him from Lily." Nancy suggested not at all wanting to get involved in the little drama a granddaughter had created.

"No Mom, I'd like to hear about him from since you've actually met him."

"Yes, Nancy please enlighten us as to what little _angel_ or _devil_ has caught Lily's eye" Mimi chimed in.

"Well, his full name is Kieran Zephyr O'Neal. Apparently his mother was into Greek mythology when she was pregnant with him. He's—," Lily came into the kitchen interrupting her grandmother.

"Grandma!" She protested. At fourteen years old Lily had grown into a beautiful young woman. Her wavy, long brown hair with natural highlights that shown blonde in the sunlight now fell almost to her waist, her vibrant brown eyes were startling with mild condemnation. It was then that Mimi noticed how much Lily looked like Chloe. Over the years she had grown to resemble her mother both in face and body being as well developed as any teenage girl's body could to be. She had her father's temper and his dimples, which in the opinion of both her parents as her entered her preteen years, was a deadly combination. She could be angry with you one moment and yet charm you with her dimpled smile the next. "Hi Mom, Aunt Meems." Lily calmly stated after kissing both her mother and aunt on the cheek.

"Don't you hi Mom, me. Liliana Jade Kiriakis – since when do you have a boyfriend?" Chloe asked not at all allowing Lily to railroad them out of the topic of her love life. _Love life_? Since when did a fourteen year old have anything remotely resembling a love life? That renewed Chloe's ire.

Taking a breath she replied, "Well, Kieran isn't exactly my boyfriend … not yet anyway." She finished the last statement under her breath but her mother heard her anyway if the narrowing of her eyes was anything to go by.

"Would you look at the time Chloe, I have to be going Craig is expecting me back soon. Lily, be good." Nancy said and then left the kitchen before either her granddaughter or daughter could protest.

"Funny, your grandmother seemed to think he was and so did your brother."

"Nicky's only five he doesn't know anything about Kieran and I being friends. And I introduced Kieran as a friend to Grandma and Grandpa because otherwise I wouldn't have got to go out with him. And in any case mother he is just a friend." Lily added honestly as she blushed.

Chloe and Mimi shared a slight smile. "I have the sense that you would like to be more than friends with this boy. Is that true, Liliana?"

"Of course I want to be more than just friends with him. But, unfortunately I made the mistake of telling him about Daddy's rule and now he thinks we should just be friends." She huffed, flipping her hair behind her shoulder in disgust. "He's got this hang up about following your parents' wishes." She rolled her eyes in clear disgust.

"Imagine that, I think I'm liking this boy already.

"Mother," she sighed.

Chloe asked, "Why did you introduce him to your grandparents and brother before introducing him to me or your father?"

"How about we talk about this at lunch at Kaquistados. I'll go get the guys ready and we'll meet you in the garage. And when we get to the restaurant I'll tell you everything you want to know about Kieran. I promise." Lily turned and left the kitchen before Mimi or Chloe could get a word out edgewise.

"Umm, that only took her twenty minutes," Mimi declared glancing at her watch. "And lunch her favorite restaurant no less. I'm impressed."

"I told you she would want to go out as soon as she got home. See, I know my daughter that's why I set up a reservation at the restaurant earlier."

"VIP suite?"

"Of course, there are perks to being one of the owners to a five star restaurant. We better get going before Lily sets her sights on driving the car herself again."

"Oh that's true so what do you think her angle is? Do you think she's trying to sweeten you up?"

"I don't know I'll reserve my opinion until after I hear about Kieran." Chloe and Mimi made headway to the garage stopping in the private office just to give Amanda instructions for any calls from Philip or important business calls that couldn't wait to call her cell phone. But for anything else take a message and she'll get back to it later. With her business needs settled she and Mimi went into the garage where Lily and the boys were waiting for them.

It wasn't until they had finished off their lunch and sent off the kiddies that Lily finally talked.

"So how did you meet Kieran?"

"His mother runs the dance camp and during the summer he splits his time between attending his mother's dance classes and helping his father out at the studio."

"What exactly do his parents do for a living Lily? You never said." Mimi asked attempting to gain more information so that she could check out Kieran O'Neal and his family.

"Oh I forgot that's the best part. His mother is Tracy O'Neal, you remember her right mom?"

"Of course, she was a wonderful jazz dancer, one of the best in the business when I was just starting out. She was very popular on Broadway, I believe. She had what people would call the triple threat of talent; she could sing, dance, and had a wonderful stage presence and personality. But she retired from the business a while ago."

"Yeah, now she owns the dance studio where I'm taking my dance class at. Mom when you meet her, you'll love her; Grandma loved her when she met her. His father's name is Zion Zephyr O'Neal and he owns an art studio in the village."

"A professional dancer and an artist, that's quite a family. What's his specialty?"

"He's a dancer of course, he's trained in jazz and ballet since he was like three years old. Now he's taking ballroom, that's where we met he's my dance partner. Oh, yeah and before you ask he's fifteen. So you can't say he's too old for me or anything."

"Okay Lily you've spent the past half hour telling me about his every virtue including that he is the oldest child in his family with a younger brother and sister. He's on the honor roll, etc, etc. So tell me what exactly do you want from me sweetie?"

Biting on her lower lip for a moment. "I want you to help me convince Daddy to let me officially date Kieran. If you can convince Daddy to let me date earlier than the agreed upon time than Kieran won't have any excuse not to date me."

Chloe had known this was coming. "Lily are you even sure that Kieran wants to be more than friends. Did you ever consider that maybe he told you that because he _just_ wants to be friends."

"Mom, please I think I know when a guy likes me. Kieran maybe shy but I can definitely tell that he likes me. So will you help me?"

"Honestly, Lily I don't know what I could do you are the one who made the deal with your father not to date until you were sixteen."

"Mom, I was seven years old at the time and obviously not interested in boys yet. Frankly, I think it was very underhanded of Daddy to make that deal with me than and honestly expect me to stick with it. It's not fair." Lily crossed her arms over her chest.

"She does have a point Chloe, it was a underhanded. I think you should help her." Mimi added sided with Lily. Her reward was a brillant dimpled smile that reminds Mimi of Philip. Alexander "Xander" Dimera wondered over to his mother and climbed onto her lap. As cute as the child was he didn't resemble Mimi at all. In fact, it could be said that he more closed resembled his father with straight black hair and his mother's green eyes. He was quite tall for his age almost the same height as Nicky with the child likeness of a cherub.

"I'll make a deal with you Lily. Let me meet Kieran for myself and if I decide he is worthy of you than I will do what I can with your father." Chloe resolved

"Oh thanks Mom." Lily rose from her seat and hugged her mother. "I'm finally going to get to go on my first date with Kieran."

"Not just yet I haven't met him yet and you don't know that I'll like him."

"You'll like him, I'm positive of it." Lily moved back from her mother and stood as she watched her mother and Mimi grab their purses. Mimi held Xander in her arms as they walked out of the VIP room and headed for the private back entrance. It was thought that by going through the private back entrance they could save themselves the aggravation of having cameras flashing in the face of their children. Chloe pulled her jacket, flipping out any hair that got caught under the jacket. "Besides, Mom if you like him I just know Daddy will have to agree with you." Lily added as she walked alongside her mother who was holding Nicky's hand as the walked along the street.

Unbeknownst to them across the street hidden amongst the veiled windows of a black SUV a person took photos of Kiriakis and Dimera wives and children.

* * *

Please tell me what you think I appreciate all feedback. 


	3. 3

Chapter Three

Philip had been in Salem for the past two days now.  After he and Rex had arrived at Salem International Airport, a limo had preempted their arrival and went immediately into Salem.  The main purpose of the visit to take a look at the material Lucas had gathered, Rex was going to visit with his father and check up on Phoenix Enterprises while Philip would handle everything at Titan.  They would find out if anything was wrong or not where it should be and then handle it.

So Philip headed to Titan after dropping Rex by the Dimera compound.  He'd spent the day there going through all of the files Shawn and Lucas had compiled from the mysterious missing employee's personally accessed computer.  After several hours of thorough examination Philip had found that all of the files contained information to accounts that had not been touched since just before Victor's death.  Furthermore, according to computer data on all of the accounts, they had last been accessed with Brady's old code. Add that to the fact that the accounts had been among some expertly hidden dummy accounts and Philip knew whoever had accessed the files had clearly been a pro.  This person is obviously a computer hacker or worse, she knew exactly how to bypass the new system.  They knew exactly where to look and how to override the security walls in place to get at them. They also knew that all the evidence would show that Brady Black was the culprit since of course they'd used his codes. In all honesty Philip, didn't know if Brady had anything to do with any of the accounts that had been accessed.  But, he wouldn't know for sure until he got a chance to talk to the woman in person tomorrow, as he, Lucas and Shawn were going to pay a little visit to her apartment.

Leaning back in the chair by the desk in the Kiriakis Manor library, he dialed the number to his private line in New York.  Pressing the speakerphone button he placed the phone on the hook as it rang for the third time.

Back in New York Chloe answered the phone after checking the caller ID box and seeing that it was Philip.  "Hello handsome."

Philip smiled, "Hello to you too beautiful.  So tell me how was your day?"

"It was fine, what happened to calling me earlier today."

"I did call but Eileen told me that you took Lily and Nicky out to lunch."

"Correction, Lily took me out to lunch.  Well Mimi and I really—,"

"Ah. What does my darling daughter want?"

Chloe hesitated; she didn't want to bring Lily going on a date this early into the conversation.  So she swiftly changed the subject.  "I'll tell you about that later. You tell me what's going on with Titan first.  Is it anything serious?"

"It's always serious with Titan."  He sighed as he unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.  "Apparently, there has been somewhat of a security breach.  An employee, or rather someone who assume is an employee breached some secure files that have been locked since Victor's death."

"How is that possible?  I was under the impression that you changed the codes when you became the CEO.  Especially, after what happened."

"I did and apparently this girl knew that.  She bypassed my security walls and was able to open the files using the old codes.   In any case, I've looked through the accounts and frankly I don't know what she was looking for or if she found it.  This person is obviously a computer hacker or worse, I mean she was able to bypass the new system completely.  She got into the accounts by using old information the old system.  She has to know a whole hell of a lot about system and how it works to get through any firewalls that were in place.  Those accounts were hidden and basically dead in the water."

Chloe settled down into a chair by the sitting area of their bedroom.  "What else, there's something you're not telling me."

"You know that Titan has a database that lists every time someone accesses computers – including the codes the use and who uses them."

"And?"

"This woman – she used Brady old codes too get into the system."  Philip paused awaiting Chloe's response.  

"So you think Brady is behind this, don't you?"

"Actually, I don't.  You know I've been having him watched every since he first left Salem from Louisiana to Florida.  There's been no report of him having even the remotest contact with Titan.  He hasn't even taken any steps to get himself involved in any companies at all since he left.  The only person he even talks to from this area is John.  Unless he picked some woman off the street and gave her all of his info for someone to come to Titan and access the old accounts – even he has to know I changed all the codes after he left.  It just makes no sense."

"But, Philip wasn't that the exact case last time. And Brady was the culprit then, just as he probably is now." Chloe reminded her husband warningly.

"Yes, I know that but it still doesn't make any sense for him to be involved in any sort of business regarding Titan or Phoenix Enterprises.  He's been basically living off his inheritance.  My gut tells me that he's not behind this, this time."

"Well, what does Rex think?  Does he think Brady's behind it?"       

"No, Rex is under the impression it's just a competitor trying to commit a little corporate espionage"

"I doubt that, most competitors don't go after seven year old accounts.  It seems highly unlikely."

"I know and that's what I thought.  Lucas and Shawn seem to agree with me on that note.  They think whoever went through the accounts is specifically looking for something involving Victor and after they found it they left.  But, I'm not so sure it was just a one-time thing.

"Why do you say that?"

"Instinct – that and the fact that the accounts had been locked since before my father's death.  Even I don't know what was in them I suspect my father locked them away himself."

Tucking her legs under her she sighed.  "So basically all you know is that Victor has something in those files that the woman wanted, which she got.  And now you have to figure out just what _it_ was and why she waited seven years to get it."

"Basically."        

"So what's on the agenda tomorrow?"

"Well, I've done all I can with the files.  So Lucas, Shawn and I are going to check out this woman's apartment."

"Isn't that illegal Philip?"

Philip scoffed.  "Of course not.  It's not like we're breaking in or anything.  We're just going to take a look around.  And if the door just happens to open while we're there then we'll just take a little look inside to see that the apartments okay."

She didn't believe him for a second.  "R—ight…uh do me a favor honey, while you're at it just don't happen to get arrested.  Okay Philip?"

"We won't, honey." He acquiesced then sought a safer topic.  "What were you going to tell me about Lily? What's going on with my girl?"  A silence came over the phone.  "Come on Chloe what's up?"  He asked genuinely wanting to know what his daughter was up to.

"Okay but I want you to promise you'll keep an open mind about what I'm going to tell you."

"I promise, so tell me."

"While Lily was at dance camp she met a … a new friend —,"

Philip interrupted.  "Is that all?  So what's her friend's name?"

"_His_ name is Kieran O'Neal and our daughter would like to go out with him on her first date.  She knows that you don't want her to date until she's sixteen but she's ready now.  So Dad what do you think?"

Philip was speechless.  Lily was the apple of his eye, his precious baby girl and now she wants to date.  He wasn't ready for his daughter; his baby girl to even _like_ boys let alone go out on a _date_ with one.  " Forget it Chloe. She can't date him."

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun a little bit?  You haven't even heard anything about him."

"I don't have to know anything about this little pervert to know that I don't want him to date my daughter.  Besides, what kind of guy wants to date a fourteen year old girl?"

"Maybe a fifteen year old boy.  Look Philip, I realize that letting Lily go out with is going to be a big step with you.  But, honestly don't you think you should think about this a little more before to you automatically say no to a harmless little first date."

"No I don't need to think about anything. My baby girl is not going out with some guy that has less than honorable intentions toward—,"

"How do you know they are less than honorable?"

"Jesus Chloe, give me some credit.  I once was a fifteen-year-old boy, a sixteen – seventeen year old boy.  Hell I'm male; I know what goes on in their minds, all the more reason for her not to date…ever.  Besides, Lily and I made a deal that she could date when she was a least fifteen and unless a year has passed I believe she is only fourteen.  I see no reason to change the rules now."

"First off, Philip you made that deal with Lily when she was seven.  She was barely interested in boys then.  But, now all she wants is your permission to go out on one single date.  Look, I'm going to meet the boy tomorrow and if I like him I say we let her go.  But, we can talk about this more when you get home. So I'll let you go now.  I love you, Bye." Chloe quickly hung up the phone before Philip could protest yet again.  

Philip pushed the button off on speakerphone in irritation.  How could she hang up on him like that when it was something so important?  As he thought about that he suddenly realized that his daughter was growing up fast.  Faster than he was ready for.

Back in New York, Chloe had just hung up the phone when Lily entered her parents' bedroom.  

"So what did Daddy say, can I go out with Kieran?"  Lily asked hopefully as she climbed onto the chair before her mother expectantly awaiting her response.

"Lily, sweetie … you know what you're father is like—."

"So I guess that means he said no." Lily replied with a crestfallen look.  She didn't need Chloe to tell her what Philip's answer had been she already knew what it was.

"I- yes he said no.  But, don't worry about him, he's just being overprotective because in his mind you're his little girl and he doesn't want to let you grow up just yet."

"But, I'm not a little girl anymore."

"I know that and you know that but to him you'll always be his little girl even you're my age."  Leaning forward she cupped Lily's face in her hands pushing back her daughter's long hair.  "But, like I said don't worry about it because we'll change his mind."

"How Mama?"  She asked as a sparkle of fire shot in her warm brown eyes.

"Well first I'm going to meet this Kieran of yours tomorrow.  And if he passes the mother's seal of approval I'll persuade your father to see things my way.  So you leave that up to me."  Lily jumped from her seat and ran to her mother hugging her enthusiastically.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Mama.  You won't regret this.  Besides, I think you'll just love Kieran.  He's the sweetest, kindest guy you'll ever meet.  Oh Mom I can't wait till you meet him…" Lily started as she informed her mother of every single virtue that she liked in Kieran.

The next morning Philip, Lucas, and Shawn dressed inconspicuously in black piled into Shawn's Excursion to drive to the mysterious, missing employee's apartment complex.

"Where's Rex, this morning?"

"He's checking out things at Phoenix Enterprises to see if Titan was the only one that was hit."

Lucas nodded.  "So what were you doing last night in the library.  Sami said she saw you when staring into space last night when she and I were … you know what we were doing isn't important— what happened with you?"

"I talked to my wife and she told me some unfortunate news, that's all."

"What is she okay, are Lily and Tristian alright?"

"They're both fine.  It's just that Lily wants to start dating."

Lucas looked back at his brother incredulously.  "Wait a minute you were freaking out because Lily wants to date?  Man, give me a break."

"Lucas, you don't understand Lily is only fourteen that's hardly old enough for her to date."  Both Shawn and Lucas laughed at his declaration.  "Never mind, you can't understand what I mean."

"Oh I beg to differ, dear brother of mine.  You seem to have forgotten that I have four children, two of which are girls and one of them has already taken her mother and I through absolute hell with the criminal boyfriends, bad dates, first dates, last dates, ex-boyfriend, etc. 

Sami and I have been through it all with Rori and she's only 19.  Odds are if she brings home a guy you like – she'll end up hating him.  But, if it's a guy you can't stand – she'll love him.  It's a never ending cycle so welcome to the club."

"Philip don't let Lucas scare you, I'm sure he's just exaggerating.  Lily probably won't bring him anyone you like.  He'll probably just be someone who reminds you of yourself."  Shawn added from the driver's seat as he steered the car into the direction of a street.

"Cute, Shawn just drive the damn car.  Might I add that you won't be laughing when this happens to you with Corisa."

"Probably not but since we're talking about your daughter – it's funny."  He turned the car into an abandoned parking lot.  "I thought you said it was an apartment?"      

Philip took a first glance out the window surprised to see that the place was not an apartment building but an old rundown house.   It looked as if it had been abandoned for years.  "It was supposed to be an apartment but I guess the info was incorrect. That's not important just park the car, Shawn so we can go have a look."

Shawn nodded parking the car in a spot a few feet away from the house.  "Since, I'm the one with actually security training I'll go check out the house first then if everything is safe I'll come and get you guys."  He opened his door, leaving Lucas and Philip in the car.

The two brothers didn't bother to stay in to car for a full minute before they got out and headed to the house following Shawn's footsteps.  "You make someone the head of security," Lucas sighed as he and Philip stood behind Shawn as they watch him attempt to pick the lock. "And suddenly they think they know everything about breaking and entering."  

"Guys do you mind, this is very delicate work and I'm trying to concentrate here.  It's not exactly easy picking locks here."  Shawn added talking around the small flashlight he held in his mouth.  As his hands were currently working on the lock using two small screwdrivers.

"Here move out of the way," Lucas said a few minutes later he pulled out his key chain.  Fumbling through his keys he opened his Swiss army knife and pulled out one of the small attachments.

"You'll never get the door open with that." Shawn said as he moved out of the way letting Lucas take his place.

"You know Shawn you're right." Within seconds the lock clicked and Lucas pushed the door open as he pocketed his keys stepping through the door.  

"Does your wife know about that little opening doors trick?"

"Who do you think showed me?" Lucas replied to his brother smirking.

Shawn followed Lucas and Philip through the door and then shut it, angling his flashlight on the room.  

"You know from looking on the outside of this house I never would have expected it to be so nice."  Philip said looking around the expensively designed house from Shawn's flow of light.  The living room was extremely elegant, the central theme being the differing hues of blues.   Even the carpet was a lush shade of light blue, a color so pale it almost seemed white.  The sofa and two love seats were a dark shade of blue; so dark in fact they almost looked black.  "She must really love blue."

"You think?" Lucas sarcastically asked.  Then turning to his brother and cousin he said, "I'm going to check out the bedrooms."

"Don't you need a flashlight?"

Lucas smirked again as he pulled a flashlight out of his pocket.  "I'm always prepared.  I'll call if I find anything."  And with that he turned and proceeded down the hallway and into the first bedroom on the left.

"Lucas has the right idea we should split up and search.  Assuming no one would hide anything in the kitchen I suggest we start with the bedrooms.  So you take that one and I'll take this one."  Shawn nodded in agreement.

"Jesus, Guys come here," They heard Lucas call out and then started the hallway to the bedroom he was in.  

"Did you find something Lu—," Philip started as he entered the room which turned out to be more of an office.  But, the words fall on deaf ears as he saw several photos lining.  Some were black and white, some in color, some from newspapers and magazines.  It was just tons of photos in every possible printed medium in different shapes and sizes.

"What the hell?  Who are in all those photos? Shawn asked from somewhere behind him.

Philip moved closer, plucking some of the photos off the wall.  Upon a closer inspection of the picture he saw who was in the pictures.  He stared for seconds at a time the pictures littering the walls before turning around in what seemed like endless circles before pulling another photo off the wall.  "It's us." He glanced back at Shawn and Lucas.  "They're pictures of anyone related to Victor Kiriakis blood or … it's his exes, step-children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, … it's everyone in the family."

To be continued … Fear not chapter four will be posted tomorrow


	4. 4

Chapter Four

A day had passed since Chloe had agreed to meet Kieran and talked to Philip so she could decide for herself if he was all the great things Lily had said.  Honestly she hoped this meeting would go well for the sake of her daughter because Lily really seemed to like this boy and it was clear she was becoming besotted with him.  Chloe could only hope that the feelings were entirely mutual.  

Not wanting to intimidate the child with the expanse of the Kiriakis wealth she arranged to meet her daughter's young man at her former condo in the city.  Although, she was fully aware that of all the reasons for this boy to be interested in Lily, her wealth or rather her parents' wealth was not one of them.  Both of his parents were very distinguished in their respective careers and had a relatively fair amount of wealth between them that would undoubtedly be passed onto their son.  So he was definitely not a gigolo in the making.  

"Mom, he's on his way up." Lily called from below her on the first floor of the condo.

"I'll be right there."  Chloe replied as she took one last look in the mirror to check her appearance.  She'd decided that understated rules of fashion applied here with not wanting to intimidate Kieran.  So she smoothed her hair back into a low chignon fashioned with an elegant, sliver clip.  She wore a simple white pants suit, her arms left bare by the sleeveless blouse. Keeping her makeup light, wearing only eyeliner and a gloss of color on her lips Chloe achieved a look of understated beauty without even really trying. And with the exception of her white gold emerald cut diamond wedding ring, which had been redone two years before for her anniversary, and a pair of diamond studded earrings she wore no major jewelry.  Releasing a breath she flipped of the switch to the bathroom and headed to the main floor of the condo where Liliana stood waiting for her.

"You're just in time Mom."  Lily said to her mother as she opened the door after the doorbell buzzed again for the second time.  She smoothed her skirt as she turned toward her mother. "Do I look alright?" She asked biting her lower lip in hesitation.

"Yes, you look lovely." And she truly did, wear a sleeveless gold halter-top and black and gold floor length skirt.  It made her skin just glow, she looked beautiful.  Immediately Chloe was struck by how fast Lily was growing into a woman.

Lily smiled and moved to answer the door.  Taking one last calming breath she opened the door.  "Hi Kieran, please come in."  She shifted to the side to let him come in.  As he walked into the apartment Chloe got her first look at the boy who had stolen her daughter's heart and she was taken by surprise by what she saw.

He looked nothing like what she had expected.  He was quite tall for his age almost six feet, nearly as tall as Philip, by her estimation.  He had an olive tone complexion that marked the mixture of his ancestral background with prominent cheekbones, full lips, and a broad jaw.  He had blue-black hair with startlingly bright green eyes surrounded by absolutely to die for long eyelashes that no man—let alone a teenage boy— should ever have.  He was slim and lean but with a somewhat muscular physique for a boy his age.  Simply put, the boy was gorgeous.

"Kieran O'Neal, this is my mom Chloe Kiriakis.  Mom," Lily paused looked back at Kieran with a tender smile, " this is my friend Kieran."

Coming out of her initial shock at seeing Kieran for the first time Chloe smiled kindly at him.  "Hello, Kieran.  It's a pleasure to meet you.  Lily has told me so much about."  She said offering her hand to him.

"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Kiriakis." Kieran replied shyly as he shook her hand with a smile that could melt even the coldest heart.

"Come let's have a seat and you can tell me all about yourself."  Chloe gestured toward the sitting area and followed Kieran as he sat down on one of the chairs.  Merely observing the Kieran polite gestures toward her daughter as he waited for the ladies to be seated before he sat himself, Chloe realized she knew exactly what had attracted Lily to him; it wasn't just how attractive he was physically but the whole package.  It was proving to be a very interesting afternoon.

Philip and Lucas had returned to the Kiriakis estate after spending most of the morning going through all of the bedrooms in the rundown house belonging to the missing employee.  They found that most of the rooms housed photos of some sort of surveillance of the Kiriakis family.  Judging from the backgrounds in some of the photos it had been surmised that the pictures had been taken over the last several months.   Some had even been taken overseas given that outside of Lucas none of Philip's other siblings lived in the US.  So now the question on all of their minds was who took the photos and why?

Philip and Lucas were in the library pondering that very question when Sami stormed in with two of her children following behind her.  She was dressed as if she had spent a day in the office, power suit and all.

"Lucas why didn't you answer your cell phone?  I called you several times."  Sami started as she crossed her arms over her chest waiting for his answer as Aiden and Courtney entered behind her.

Lucas frowned glancing up from his position by the desk as he opened his jacket.  "What are you talking about, Sami my cell phone hasn't got any calls."  He took the cell phone out and handed it to his wife.  "Look and see for yourself."

As Sami took the phone Courtney attempted to back out of the room behind her mother's back.  " Courtney Elizabeth Roberts, don't you dare take another step out of that doorway."  She addressed her daughter sternly not even bothering look at her daughter while she fiddled with Lucas's phone.  "Well, Gee Lucas you're right your phone didn't ring at all."

"I told you," he sighed holding his hand out for the phone yet again.

"It didn't _ring _because _someone_ forgot to turn his phone _on_."  She told him handing back to phone to show him all the missed calls.  "You know Lucas, all I asked you to do today was leave your cell on and you can't even do that."

"What happened, who's in trouble?" He sighed

"Who do you think?" She turned her gaze back on the two children by the doorway.  " Do you want to tell your father what you did today to get kicked out of summer camp Courtney or shall I?"

Courtney gave her impression the often mistaken child by biting her lip before pleading her case.  "But, M-om, it wasn't my fault."  She cried, Courtney was the youngest of the Roberts brood at a mere ten years old.  She was an exact replica of her nineteen-year-old sister, Aurora, or Rori, as she preferred to be called. Both of the Roberts girls resembled their eldest brother, twenty-nine year old Will with blonde hair.  The only difference being that unlike Will and Aurora, Courtney had her father's brown eyes.

"So what did she do? Wait a minute do I even want to know?" Lucas hesitantly asked unsure if he was ready for another shenanigan that could very well involve seeing a judge to explain that not all his children were potential criminals. This was the third camp that his daughter had mysteriously gotten kicked out of in the last three years, which was really quite a feat.  Of all of his children with Sami, Courtney was the only one who seemed to get into the most mischief.  She'd been a tiny terror every since she first learned to walk.  If there was trouble she was certain to find it and double the odds of it coming into play.

"But, Daddy, honestly it wasn't not my fault this time." Courtney cried this time putting on the performance of a lifetime as her eyes filled with tears and she ran to sit on her father's lap, her chin trembling for good measure.

"Oh give me a break, you Tiny Terror.  Dad, the reason she got kicked out is because she started a fight at the pool." Aiden, third oldest child of the Roberts clan, Aurora's twin who unlike his other siblings had his father's brown hair, which was currently styled in spikes with blonde tips, and mother's blue eyes.  

Immediately the crocodile tears and chin trembling disappeared as Courtney glared at her brother.  "That's not true A-den and if you hadn't been _flirting_ with Joe's sister and watching me like you were supposed to you would have seen Joe push me."

"In any case Courtney has been officially kicked out of summer camp yet again."  Piercing her daughter's glare with a stern look she continued.  "And I was called out of a very important meeting so that I could go get _your_ daughter from camp.  And now that she is home again I sincerely hope you can do miracles because it took a lot to get her into that camp and now its up to you."  Turning to Aiden popping gum in the doorway she added, "And Aiden I hope you get a lot of rest tonight because tomorrow you'll be going to work with me as new summer hire."

"Mom come on—," Aiden protested.

"No, I don't want to hear it.  Since you've been released from your summer job at the camp I won't have you staying home all summer wasting away.  I expect to see you dressed and ready for work tomorrow morning at 6:30.  And don't make me have to get you up tomorrow."  And with that Sami stormed out of the room with Aiden on her heels begging not to have to go to work with her.  While it was fairly evident that Sami was no push over at home, she was even worse at Phoenix Enterprises.

As Philip sat back and enjoyed the show he was reminded of his own family with Lily when she had been Courtney's age and basically getting into everything while trying to run the house.  It was always fun watching his nieces and nephews attempt to get out of scrapes with Sami and Lucas as parents.  It was rather ironic really that Lucas and Sami had spent the better part of ten years practically at each other's throats.  Now, almost thirty years later, and four children they were finally settled into a relationship.  

Although, not married they had a common law marriage by living with one another for the last eighteen years, which was an added twist to their extremely weird relationship in Philip's eyes.  They even wore wedding rings to signify their relationship but had decided against actually getting married as they claimed it was too conventional for them.  

"So Uncle Philip is Lily home yet?"  Courtney asked as she settled more comfortably in her father's lap.

"Yes, she came home a couple of days ago."

Before Courtney could ask another question Lucas lifted her of his lap as they both stood up.  "Court, before you invite yourself on a visit to New York you might want to remember that your mother's not exactly happy with you at the moment."

"Daddy you can let me go if you really wanted to then Mommy—,"            

"I don't think so Courtney.  If you want to go anywhere you have to get your Mom to agree first.  So why don't you go bother your mother while your Uncle Philip and finish talking about some business."

"But D—addy," she wined.

Lucas pointed to the door.  "Goodbye Courtney."  He declared for the final tome watching as his youngest daughter turned around in a huff and left the room.  

"I knew I should have gone to stay with Rei and Will." She mumbled under her breath as she went speaking of her eldest brother and his wife.

After she left the room Lucas shut the door behind her.  "So your daughter's been kicked out of summer camp three times.  Now isn't that surprising."  Philip said as took a cigarette out of his case and lit it.

"You're one to talk Philip.  It's just that girls are so much more difficult than boys.  Honestly, I'm being to think that we should have just stopped at Will.  It would have saved a lot of unwanted headaches."

Philip laughed heartily before taking a long puff from his cigarette.  As he exhaled the smoke the door to the library opened by Rex along with his father and Shawn.  He stubbed out his cigarette automatically and stood up.  "So what did you fine?" He asked all traces of laughter gone.

Shawn stepped up and dropped some photos on the desk.  "We were able to get into that little room hidden behind the one with all the photos.  Most of the stuff we found was total garbage.  But, whoever lived there has long since been gone, these pictures were left behind, maybe they're a message or something."  He nodded to the ones that both Philip and Lucas were currently looking through.

"I don't get it.  What's with all of the pictures of these landscapes and streets?" Lucas asked frowning at he stared at the photos.       

Philip leaned over to see what they were and noticed nothing out of the norm with the photos.  "Is that it?  No clues or anything that gives us any idea who's behind this or why we were being watched.

Shawn shook his head.  "None.  But, my men are still going through the house as we speak.  So if they find anything new they'll let us know ASAP."

"We've got bigger problems than worrying about someone taking pictures of us.  Some has gone through the archives.  They've been digging up all sorts of information on you, my father and Stefano."

Philip expression turned grim, as his eyes became cold silver.  "I thought the archives were sealed."

"They were – are … someone opened them with the old combination.  They apparently knew how to override the new system."

"How in the hell is that possible?  No one is supposed to be able to do that, why the hell else would I have shelled out all that money on a shitty system that a hacker can bust into without a sweat." He responded angrily.  In matter of several weeks there had been two breaches of security at the highest level and that was two too many.  More importantly the archives had been breached and that was a serious matter.  The archives were said to have contained some of the most damning secrets that Victor Kiriakis had ever had.  Philip had only been to the archives once seven years ago just after his father's death when Stefano had needed to store information away.  He'd never been much interested in any of the files there, so with the exception of that one time he'd never gone again.  The true fact was that the file in the archives contained even a single bit of information that could ruin someone's life and for that reason alone he'd avoided it at all costs since he took control of his father's company.  After Brady's break in he'd even had that archive move to a more secure location and any access codes changed.  Thereby, making it nearly impossible for anyone to break in and use any of the information to ruin someone, or so he thought.

"I don't know.  All I can tell you is that the silent alarm went off while I was at the house with my father.  We checked the system it looks like the code they used was he same one Brady had when he was working for Titan."  Rex explained.

Shawn tensed clenching his hands into fists by his sides.  "If Brady has people watching over us I want to know why.  I refuse to let that SOB destroy my family again."  Although seven years had passed Shawn would never forget that his own brother in law had set him up.  Despite, his reconciliation with his parents and Belle's parents after giving them the ultimatum of just dealing with them working for Dimeras or forget about seeing their grandchildren again, he and Belle had yet to mend ties with Brady.  As far as they were both concerned it would be a while before they were ready to take that step.  

"Brady won't destroy anything again most especially not anyone in this family.  I'll see to that myself.  If he is unfortunate enough to have a hand in this he'll be taken care of."  Philip stated as he headed toward the door.  "But, just to be on the safe side I'm going to the archives to see what was breached."  He left the room, leaving the other men to follow him as he headed for the archives.  

An hour had passed since Kieran had arrived to meet Chloe in the New York apartment.  During that short time Chloe was absolutely charmed by the young man.  He was extremely polite with a certain quality of shyness about him.  He was everything Lily had said and of course as enthralled with Lily as she was with him.  His personality was the complete opposite of Lily's very gregarious personality.  Chloe would be very interested to see how her husband would react to seeing someone so blindly interested in his daughter as Kieran clearly was.  But, it would only be fair for her to warn Kieran of what to expect when he finally met Philip.  So she sent Lily down to meet her brother with Mimi and Xander so she could privately talk with Kieran.

"Mrs. Kiriakis, are you aware of who my parents are?"  He asked from his position across from her on the couch after Lily left.  

"Yes of course, your mother is a wonderful dancer.  I've been to several of her shows many times.  But, I've never met her in person.  And I do believe I did meet your father years ago at a gallery opening."  She answered.

Kieran relaxed then sitting back against the chair.  "And you don't mind that Lily wants to date me."

"Of course not why would I?  Let me put your mind at rest Kieran the fact that your heritage is mixed is of no concern to me.   Nor will it be to my husband.  To be blunt if my husband were not to like you it would be because of you and what you represent in Lily's life, our family life, not your lineage.  I doubt however that it will even be an issue since, I like you Kieran."

After Chloe's profound statement Kieran put his mind at rest.  But, he felt the need to explain why he had inquired as to whether she knew about his parents.  "I didn't mean to be rude, Mrs. Kiriakis, I—"

"You weren't rude at all.  I understand perfectly why you asked the question you did.  It's perfectly natural."

"It's just that it's been my experience that people seem change their opinion of me when they realize that I am mixed. I'm not ashamed of my heritage and I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't hold that against me because I really like Lily."  His mother was African-American and his father was half Native American and half Irish so people generally were surprised when they saw the family together.

"Well, I'm sure you know that the feeling is entirely mutual with my daughter."  Chloe responded as Lily reentered the apartment with Mimi, Xander, and Nicky.  She stood with Kieran.  "Kieran allow me to introduce you to my cousin and Lily's godmother Mimi Dimera and her son Alexander.   You already know my youngest, Lily's brother Nicky."  She said moving to stand behind her son gently touching his soft blonde waves of hair.

"Yes, its good to finally meet you Kieran.  Lily has been just raving about you."  Mimi said when she shook the hand of the teenager.  Heat flushed into his cheeks causing him to blush under her compliments. "I can certainly see why she like you, you're very handsome." As Kieran face bloomed redder, Lily's cheeks turned pink.

"Aunt Meems," Lily sternly called out before facing Kieran.  "We're going out to lunch would you like to join us?"

He declined the invitation.  

"I can't I'm helping my Dad at the gallery today."  He explained as the red heat of embarrassment faded away.

"Oh then let me walk you out." Lily grabbed Kieran's arm as the headed for the door.  "I'll be right back, Mom."

"It was nice meeting you Kieran.  I hope to see you again."

"Nice meeting you too Mrs. Kiriakis."  Kieran replied before the door shut and he and Lily were gone.

"I can see why Lily's anxious to keep him all to herself.  If I was her age and I had a boy like Kieran interested in me, I would do anything for a chance with him.  Boy, is he a cutie too."

"And nice Mimi – he couldn't have been any sweeter."  Chloe added she went to get her purse.

"So what did you think about him other than that's sweet?"

"Well, he likes Lily so that's a plus.  He's bright, nice and very grounded in my opinion.  He didn't let me intimidate him – also another plus factor.  And most importantly, he's a calming influence on my daughter.  So as far as I'm concerned he can definitely date Lily."

Mimi nodded.  "Hmm, so what about as far as Philip is concerned, will he like him."

"He'll hate him." Chloe answered promptly.

"I figured as much.  So what are you in the mood for?" She asked grabbing Xander's hand.

"Something light but I say let's let Lily decide."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Lily decided that they should eat at _Le Bistro_, a diner near the penthouse apartment.  She was even willing to eat at the outside tables, which for her was a big deal.  If there was one thing that bothered Lily about her mother's celebrity status it was the interruptions during a meal.  She didn't mind photographers snapping photos but she absolutely abhorred to have random people interrupt her when she was with her mother for autographs or what not.  It was as if she wasn't even there and that annoyed her to no end.

But today she simply didn't care because she was on a high, a Kieran O'Neal high after not seeing him for three days.  The minute her mother sat at the table Lily simply jumped to hear her opinion of Kieran because she knew that if her mother liked then there was only one more small —very substantial— roadblock for her to pass before she could freely date Kieran, namely her father.

"So Mama, what did you think?  Wasn't Kieran the absolute best?  He was great wasn't he, just like I told you he would be.  I mean Mama come on you liked him right?"

"Yes, Lily I liked him, very much in fact.   I thought he was a very nice well put together young man."

"See, I knew you would like him once you met him.  He's the best.  Now, will you help me convince Daddy to break that ridiculous rule?"  She pleaded not touching her salad until she was assured Chloe would help.  "Please Mom, I'll even baby-sit Nicky for free."

"You already baby-sit him for free.  Frankly, Chloe if I were you I'd holdout for something more lucrative."  Mimi added between bites of her sandwich, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Aunt Mimi, don't joke, this is serious.  This is my potential social life we're talking here, my _first_ date."  Lily protested not for a second wanting anyone at the table to take the subject of her first date lightly at all.

"Momma, Xander and I wanna go to the park.  Can we?"  Nicky chimed in from his seat beside the other little boy in a booster seat.  

"We'll have Lissette take you after lunch sweetie, okay?" Chloe replied turning her attention to her son as she took a napkin and wiped away the residue from his lunch.  Lissette was Nicky's nanny she'd been with the family since Nicky was a baby.

"Alright, Momma."  Nicky answered using his own hand to wipe his mouth after she finished.

"I needa' gwo to the bah-room." Xander said as he tried to get out of his booster seat.

"I'll take you sweetie, here let me get you down."  Wiping her hands on her napkin Mimi stood and lifted Xander from his seat taking his hand.  "Nicky do you need to go to?" 

"Nope."

"Okay, I'll be right back then."  Mimi said then headed with her son in the direction of the restaurant.

"So Mom what's the answer, are you going to help with Daddy or not?"

Chloe raised her brow at Lily's question.  Her daughter was certainly unrelenting on this issue to get her first date.  As she thought about it, Chloe realized that she really liked Kieran.  She believed he would be a good influence on her daughter if and/or when they began to see one another.  On the other hand, Lily was only 14 going on 15, even though more often than not it was more like 14 going on 30.  Still, she was much too young to have a relationship with any boy beyond that of friendship, at least in her eyes.  She wasn't altogether against Philip's reasoning on not allowing their daughter to date just yet, but she also knew that while she may have just a few reservations about her dating, Liliana had none.  If Chloe were to refuse to help her then Lily would find some other way to get what she wanted.  So all things considered she'd made up her mind.  "Okay, so I will speak with your father about this when he returns home.  Let me make myself perfectly clear here and now, Liliana Jade Kiriakis, I'm not promising you anything one way or the other, only that I will talk to him.  And if he sees reason we will let you date Kieran with some ground rules in place."

She had barely finished her statement before Lily bounded up out of her chair and hugged her mother as a woman around Chloe's age approached the table.

"Please excuse me I don't mean to be interrupt.  But, are you Chloe Wesley by any chance?" The woman was wearing a tight A-line lavender skirt that ended mid-thigh with a white sleeveless top.  She had straight auburn hair secured in a clasp by her nape.  She looked to be somewhere in her late thirties at least.

Looking up, Chloe smiled. "It's Kiriakis, and yes I am."

"Of course, oh my goodness what you must think of me.  I'm sorry.  It's just that I've been a fan of yours for years.  And I was just so surprised to see you here.  I just saw Phantom of the Opera a few days ago and your performance was a breathtaking as it usual is on stage.   I don't want to be a bother, but I was wondering if I could perhaps get your autograph.  I'll understand if you say no being that you're here with your children and all."  She smiled broadly at Nicky and Lily, as she frantically waved her hand about searching for a piece of paper in her purse as she pulled out what looked to be a receipt to a bookstore.  "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all.  It's always a pleasure to meet a fan."  Chloe took the pen and paper out of the woman's offered hands.  "So who should I make this out to?"

"To Stephanie, please."

"Alright, Stephanie, here you go.  Now you have a nice day."  Chloe signed the paper like a pro and handed back to woman within seconds.  

"Thank you Ms. Wesley – I mean Mrs. Kiriakis."  The woman took the paper and stroll away with out a backward glance.

Lily stared after her for a minute.  The woman walked to a tall blonde man dressed in an expensive suit waiting on the street.  She didn't know why but for some reason that woman stuck her as being rather strange for a fan.  Lily had been around when Chloe gave autographs so she saw a definite range of fans we were bold enough to ask for autographs, some were very shy, some were fumblingly nervous, and some were bold and direct.  But, that woman was neither, hers was more of a feigned nervousness and besides that what kind of supposed fan forgot the person's name.  It was just plain weird.

  
  


Philip, Lucas, Rex and Shawn arrived at the secured location for the archive with the thought that anyone who knew the secrets Victor Kiriakis kept would be a very dangerous enemy to have.  For that reason alone, Philip had all the archive's information stored into a place where presumably no one would ever look – The Kiriakis family mausoleum.  The idea being that then all of Victor's secrets would be taken to the grave with him.  

As he enters the mausoleum the other men followed behind.  He headed to the faux doorway, which opened to an undercover office like room.  Philip keyed in the codes on the keypad and then accessed the final lock to open the doorway.  It was clear that someone had been there.

"What the hell?" Lucas exclaimed looking around the small robe.

"Who is that and when were they taken?"  Shawn asked turning around in the room shocked by what he saw.

"It's Mimi and Alexander," Rex answered softly.

"No it's my family."  Philip said, as he looked around the room to see photos ... hundreds of black and white enlarged covering the every inch of the wall.  Standing in the center he looked at the photos closely recognizing that they were of his wife, children, Mimi and Xander walking down the street, eating, shopping or just plain having a private moment in general.  His blood boiled as he thought about someone following his family, watching them.

"Philip," Rex called as stared at a small photo on the desk.

Philip walked over to Rex and saw the photo.  It had a knife, which stuck it to the desk.  Yanking the knife out of the desk he lifted the photo up and turned it over to see a small red arrow indicating that there was something to be seen on the back.  In bold print, it was written:  **THE PAST ALWAYS COMES BACK TO HAUNT YOU WITH SECRETS AS DANGEROUS AS YOURS.  YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP YOUR FAMILY CLOSE TO YOU.  I'M WATCHING THEM RIGHT NOW, PHILIP.  WHERE ARE YOU? DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR WIFE AND CHILDREN ARE?**

"What do you think it means? Shawn asked hoping that it wasn't what he thought it meant.

"I don't know but I'm not staying here to find out.  I'm going home, now.  I will kill anyone who tries to hurt my family, anyone."  He stuck the knife back into the desk with one deadly stabbing motion.  He turned and then everyone saw his eyes that glittered dangerously, molten sliver.  This Philip Kiriakis was the one you didn't want to cross.


	5. 5

Author's Note:  Hey I'm back now and will be updating this story and SOTH more often so I hope you keep reading.  The next chapter of SOTH will be up sometime in the next two weeks, so look out for it.  Here's the next installment of SR …

Chapter Five

Philip arrived home to find that neither his wife nor his children were anywhere in sight.  He was immediately concerned, especially after discovering the photos someone had taken of them, plastered all over the archives.  As he stormed into his bedroom, began to take off his travel clothes to get into something more relaxing.  While he pulled on a pair of pants, he pressed for the speakerphone and dialed the number to Chloe's cell phone, which presumably was always on when she was out of the house.  It rang only once before she answered.

"Hello… Philip, is that you?" She asked adjusting the earpiece in her ear.

"Yes—,"

"Oh good, you're home earlier."  She interrupted again as she flipped through some of the lavender shirts on the rack for one in her size.

"I need you to come home, now."

Half listening to Philip, she pulled the correct size off the hanger just as Lily came up and showed off some sandals she was trying on.  Nodding to Lily she was caught off guard by Philip's brisk tone.  "Why?  Did something happen at that girl's apartment?"

"I'll tell you when you get home.  Are Nicky and Lily with you?"  He sat down on the bed as he laced up his boots and stood.

"Lily is but Nicky's at the park with Lisette and Alex.  We're going to meet them in an hour."  Chloe promptly answered placing the shirt on the rack as she flagged Lily and Mimi over to her.

"Go ahead and come home with Mimi and Alex, I'll grab Lisette and the boys."  

"Philip is there something I should —," Chloe started wanting to know why Philip was so anxious for everyone to come home.  

"I don't think this is something we can talk about over the phone.  Just meet me back here as soon as possible; I'll fill you in then."

"Okay, we'll see you soon." No sooner had she said she was coming than he hung up. "I love you too." She said smarting from his abrupt departure. Frowning, she pulled the phone earpiece out of her ear.

"Mom what's up?  Is Daddy home?"

"Yes, he wants us to come home."

"Why?" Lily questioned as she put her sandals back on.  

"I have no idea.  But, more than likely something happened at Titan, Philip sounded urgent."

"I wonder what it could be.   You know that reminds me, neither Sami nor Belle got back to me yet."  Mimi added as they headed for the exit of the Saks Fifth Avenue store.

"Well Philip said he wants to wait till we get home, so we'd better get a move on.  He's going to meet Lisette with the boys and bring them to the mansion." She turned and headed toward the exit. " It's just as well, there's nothing I'd like more than to go home and relax considering how I've been dragged around shopping for the last four hours."  Chloe declared.

"Funny, Mom, real funny."  Lily replied saucily as she followed her mother and Mimi out the shop.

*                                  *                                  *                                  *                                  

When Chloe arrived home she saw Philip hadn't arrived back yet.  But, Rex's car was parked outside the mansion.

"I guess Rex is waiting for us as well."  Mimi added as she followed Chloe and Lily into the mansion with her bags.

"I'm gonna go put my bags away Mom."  Lily said as she started toward the direction of the stairs.

"Here sweetie, drop this in my room."  Chloe held her purse and keys out to Lily as well as her small bag from a store.  Then Lily continued on her way up the stairs.  "Did Rex tell you anything more than Philip told me?"

Rex had called Mimi and relayed the same information that Philip had to Chloe.  "Nope, not a word.  I don't know what he had to tell me but it must be something big."

"Knowing Rex and Philip, I'd say that you're probably right.  Eileen, have you heard from Philip?"  Chloe asked her assistant when she entered the office.

"No.  He waited for Rex to arrive then, Philip said they were going to get the boys and they'd be right back."  The petite redhead answered.

"Okay, thanks Eileen. We'll be in the lounge waiting for them.  You can go ahead and take off; unless there's anything else we have to clear before the interview."

"Nope, nothing at all, really.  I'll just touch base with the tonight show host and check on your scheduled interviews for next week before I head home."  Eileen added as she when back around the desk to look for a number.  "That should be it."

"Great.  Just let me know if you need anything." Eileen nodded before Chloe and Mimi walked onto the lounge and sat down.  

Once Chloe was settled in her seat she reached back and gently released the clasp that held her hair.  Running her fingers through her hair she let it tumble down her back as she shook it out.  

"When Rex called me last night he said that there'd been a break in at Titan.  Was it high security or just a minor breach?"  Mimi asked just to be sure she had all the correct details.

"From what Philip said it was a high security breach.  Some girl who was working there hacked into the system and bypassed the new security walls and passwords to access old files still on the data base.  He said they didn't know what she was looking for because Victor apparently handled those accounts privately; no one else had access to them.  He was supposed to call me back today after they checked the girl's apartment out but he never did.  So I'm assuming that's why he wanted us back so soon because they found something they weren't supposed to. We're just going to have to wait and see though."  Chloe answered as she thought about all the possible reasons they'd have for calling their wives home in such an abrupt manner.

The front door buzzed open, with a small ring to let Chloe know that Philip and Rex were home.  Philip held Nicky in his arms, his son wasn't happy to say the least and had his little arms crossed in defiance.  Philip placed the child on the ground and was given the same silent treatment.  "Nicky, I'm sorry about cutting your play date short.  But, I have something really important to tell Mommy and I wanted to see my big boy before that."

"It's not fair.  I wanna go back to play with Julie and Adam."  Nicky plaintively replied as he tried to pull away from his father's kneeling figure in a fit of anger.  "Momma said I could."

"I know and I'm sorry I made you leave but you can go play with them tomorrow—,"

"No, I wanna go now!"  The child replied sternly.

"Tristian Nikos Kiriakis, I said you could go tomorrow.  And I promise you'll get to stay but, you are not going anywhere today and that is final.  Do you understand me?"  Philip asked his son not allowing any chance for the small child to interrupt by raising his voice slightly to make his decision more pronounced.  

Nicky, who knew he was behaving badly, nodded as his eyes filled with tears.  Never before had his father ever raised his voice like he had, at least not to him.  He silently swapped his tears away as his father watched on.

Philip felt uneasy.  Nicky was always the easy going child never stirring up trouble unlike his older sister who seemed to live for making her parents crazy.  He felt horrible as he watched his son silently wipe away his tears that he almost apologized but reasoned that if it had been any other time he would have but now-- especially now-- he had to be careful, and keep his family close. 

"Nicky, what's wrong?"  Chloe asked frowning as she noticed the tear tracks on his face as she and Mimi arrived on the scene.  Nicky saw his mother and ran to her open arms.  Chloe lifted him up into her arms as she pierced her husband with a questioning gaze.  "What happened?"

"He's upset that I took him from his play date.  That's why I promised to take him tomorrow but…"

"Yes well, he's wanted to go since my Mom brought him home."  She answered as she rubbed Nicky's back, Philip sighed uneasily.  "Sweetie, calm down, it will be alright."  She shifted Nicky back a little in her arms so that she could see his face.   "I'm sure Lissette can take you to the play date tomorrow."

"No _she can't," Philip interrupted as he took Nicky from his mother's arms.  "I need to talk to Mommy for a minute so I want you to go play with Alex."  He handed his son to Lissette who took Nicky and Alex's hand as she walked down the aisle to the children's playroom._

"Okay, what's this all about Philip?"  She crossed her arms over her chest.

Grasping her arm he pulled her toward his office.  "I'll tell you in a minute, where's Lily?"  Rex and Mimi followed her into the office.

"Upstairs I'd imagine.  Now what's going on with you and why are you being such a prick about letting our son go to a play date?"  Chloe asked as she walked into the room and sat down.

Philip closed the office door and moved to stand by his desk.  "I'm not…" He started but paused for a breath "I have a good reason for taking him from his play date."  

"That's good, but what does this have to do with Rex and I?  Is it either necessary for us to be here as well?"  Mimi asked still not clear as to why she was even there.

"This concerns us too Mimi."  Rex answered.

"Fine, then quit with the big mystery already and enlighten us."

 "Fine, straight to the point then. You're here because we've found that you're being followed.  And from Rex and I have been able to dissertain the pictures have been taken over the span of days, weeks at the most."

"But that's nothing new Philip.  The paparazzi have been following me for weeks."  Chloe replied thinking her husband was a tad misguided.

"These aren't common, run of the mill photos from the paparazzi.  They are up close and personal with photos that show your every move. If this was just the average photos by the paparazzi I'd be mad, pissed even but never so much to feel the need to assure that my family is all in one place.  Think Chloe. Do you think I'd be this upset over some ragtag media photos?"  He turned and picked an envelope off his desk.  Taking the package the turned back around and handed it to Chloe.

"What's this?"

"Open it and see."  Chloe compiled and opened the envelope.  She pulled out a folder and out came a bunch of photographs. Taking the photos in her hands she thumbed through the photos.  Mimi walked over and looked through them with her.  Philip standing against his desk with his arms crossed defensively.  "Those are only a fourth of the pictures we found there and at the home of our mysterious employee."

Chloe's gaze snapped back to her husband's in question.  "They were in the archives?"  Philip nodded affirmative.  "How is that possible?  I thought there was no way for someone to penetrate the archives."

"So did I but apparently I was wrong.  Our photographer friend found a way to hack into the system and override the codes.  They know the system better than even I do apparently.  So I'm now left with two breaches of security and photos of the entire family.  Needless to say, I'm a little more than concerned."

"They were taken with a close range camera."  Mimi said more as a statement than a question as she still flipped through the photos.

"From what we could tell with early analysis the pictures were taken with a close range camera no more than 15-20 feet away. That's why we can home when we did … well that and the message."

"What message?"  Mimi and Chloe asked simultaneously.

Philip nodded to the last photo in the pile now tossed on the desk.  Plucking it up he turned it over and showed both Mimi and Chloe the message written in blood red letters on back.  Chloe took the photo and flipped it right side up for a minute so she could study it.  Then, it hit her.  "This was taken yesterday.  Meems doesn't this look like the outside of Kaquistados?"  She looked at Mimi handing her the photo.

"You're right it does look like us coming out of Kaquistados.  I wonder how close they were when they took this because no one was outside when we left.

"Well judging by that fact that I can read the name of Nicky's Nikes they are too damn close for my taste."  Philip added taking the photo back on top of the pile.

"So what does this mean?"

"It _means that someone is out to get the Kiriakis family and they can get close to us before we even know it.  This is why Rex and I came home so quickly, we need to take some precautions because obviously we have too many ways for people to get at us without even knowing."  He declared._

Chloe frowned, "Exactly, what sort of precautions are you talking about?"

"Whatever it takes to keep you guys safe.  But for starters, I'm sending Lily and Nicky away," Philip started only to be interrupted by his daughter opening the door to the office.

"The hell you are.  You can't send me away Daddy."  Lily declared defiantly as she stood by the door dressed in jeans and tank top holding hands with Alex and Nicky by her side as she face held the expression of anger and disbelief. 

*                      *                      *

After dropping off her mother's bags in her parent's bedroom, she went to her bedroom to change.  Dropping her purchases on the floor, she kicked her door closed.  She went to her phone by her desk and dialed Kieran's number.  She'd been waiting all day to call him but hadn't had the opportunity.  But, to her dismay he wasn't home so she left a message entailing that she would call him later.

With the failed phone call attempt out of the way, she changed out of her sundress and into a pair of jeans and a tank top.  She slipped on her moccasin slippers before leaving her room in search of something to snack on.  She was on her way into the kitchen when she made a small detour when she heard the television on in the children's playroom.  Walking into the room she took a seat by Nicky and Alex who were busy watching a Gargoyles cartoon.

"Nicky, when did you get home?  I thought you had a play date at Adam's house."  She said coming to sit down by her brother.

"I did but Daddy said we couldn't stay and he brought us home."

"Daddy's home?" Lily asked not realizing that her father had gone to pick up her baby brother, he usually just waited for Nicky to come home before seeing after he'd been away for a couple of days.

"My Daddy too."  Alex added speaking for the first time that day.

Lily nodded.  "Well I'm sorry about you two missing your play date."  She ruffled Nicky's hair much to his annoyance as he tried to catch her hand mid-ruffle.  "I'll make you a deal if you want, as soon as Mom says that I can go out with Kieran we'll take you both to the park and you can play with his dog.  Would you like that?" She offered.

"Yeah!"  Both boys exclaimed in unison.

"Good."  She smiled as she stood up.  "I'm going to fix me a snack do you guys want anything to eat?"  She asked to which, both boys exclaimed yeah again.  "Alright, then come on let's go see what we can find."  She held out a hand for Nicky and Alex and they were off.  As they walked down the hallway Lily decided to stop off and say hi to her father.  So she arrived at her father's office with both boys in hand only to hear that her father wanted to send her away. 

*                      *                      *

"Liliana," Chloe started not particularly surprised to see her daughter walk in at the exact moment the conversation turned to her.  It was uncanny how that always seemed to happen.

"How can you even think of sending me away Daddy?  I only just got back.  Geez, this is a little much even for you, I mean sending me away because you don't want me dating."

Philip cocked a brow as he waited for his daughter to finish before speaking.  "What no 'Hello Daddy'?"  He replied sardonically.

"Not if you want to send me away when I just got back, I'm not.  Seriously Daddy, you can't think of sending me away, not now." Alex pulled his hand from Lily's.

"I'm hungry; I thought we're getting a snack Lily."  His green eyes implored her with silent dissension.  

Lily looked down at the small imp but before she could answer Mimi answered for her.  "On that note, Rex and I will take our leave and go feed our hungry boy."  Mimi said leaning to pick up her son before grabbing Rex's hand and pulling him out of the office.  Knowing that leaving was the quickest way she'd be able to get him home and grill him away with questions.

"Call me when you've decided what we're going do about…" Rex paused glancing a Lily and noting Philip's slight nod he amended what he had been going to say. "The meeting tomorrow."  Rex finished and walked behind his wife and child out the room.  He stopped by the doorway briefly to kiss Lily's cheek. "Don't be too hard on him kiddo."

"I'll try but I can't promise you anything. See ya' Uncle Rex."  Lily replied as she moved out of the way for him to exit.  "Bye Meems."

"Bye Sweetie."  Mimi called out.

As soon as Rex and Mimi had gone Lily returned to her leaning against the doorway.  "Well Daddy, aren't you going to say anything?  Nicky and I don't want to go anywhere.  We've only been back for two days and you're already trying to get rid of us."

"Lily's that's not true at all.  I don't _want_ to send you anywhere.  As you've said yourself, you've only just returned home.  I'm merely suggesting that you visit with your grandfather on Eixel for a while.  When your mother and I went he kept asking, 'where are my Liliana and Nikos?'"  He said attempting to emulate Stefano's accent.

Lily laughed at her father's horrid accent of Stefano's as did her younger brother.  "Grandpa doesn't sound like that Daddy."  Nikos added.

"Well, I almost got it right."  He said leaning down to ruffle his son's fine blond hair.  He laughed when Nicky pushed his hand away as he made himself eye level with the child.  "Are you still mad at me little man?" Nicky shook his head no.  "Good I'm glad I couldn't stay for you to be mad at me."

"I'm sorry I got mad, too Daddy." Nicky added solemnly.

"That's okay we all get a little mad sometimes."  He leaning in closely and faux whispered, "especially your Mom." Nicky laughed in response.

"Cute, Philip," Chloe said dryly though her eyes were filled with merriment as she observed her husband's playful antics and swatted him.

"So you really aren't planning on spend sending us away?" Lily asked, her eyes hopeful since she really didn't want to leave--especially not with her first date on the future horizon.

Philip stood up and pierced his daughter with his blue-eyed gaze.  "Well, not just yet I won't."  Before he could say anything more Lily ran into his arms hugging him.

"Oh thank you Daddy.  I missed you so much while you and Mama were gone."  Lily leaned up and kissed her father's cheek as she wrapped her arms tightly around her.

"Well, I take this means you're actually glad to see me."  He added as he hugged her back.

Lily eased out of his arms momentarily.  "Of course, I am Daddy.  I always miss you when you go away on business trips."  Stepping away from him she held out her hand for her brother to take.  "In fact I'm even going to help fix dinner tonight for you Dad.  Nicky will help me too, in fact."  Taking Nicky's hand she led him toward the door.  "Come on Nick."  She said as she pulled him out of the room.

"Well that was quick.  I'm assuming she wants this time to be used for me to tell all you about Kieran because she wants to date him?"  Chloe said moving to sit back in front of the chair by the desk.  "We'll get to that later because I'm more interested as to why you didn't tell her the truth about what's going on.  She isn't stupid, and if you aren't planning on sending her and Nicky to Stefano, I can't imagine Lily won't notice the extra security around to protect her."

"I certainly didn't tell her that I wouldn't send her to Stefano.  I simply, said not yet.  I've already told everyone to be on guard and to take whatever precautions that they deem necessary.  And concerning your public status the extra security around the manor won't be much of a difference to Lily."

"Okay two things Philip," Chloe sighed.  "One, you can't not tell Lily about having a bodyguard around her. Which assuming you are planning to do.  And another thing I'm not so sure I want to have strange people roaming around the grounds even if it is for extra protection.  Besides, what's the point of having this advanced security system if it doesn't do its job?"

"Well I haven't decided if we'll get some extra bodyguards or not.  So for Lily that's pretty much out.  As for the security system, honey, I'd hope it hasn't escaped your notice that the high-tech system in both Titan and the archives were breached. Therefore, something is obviously wrong with the system either that or our hacker knows something about it that I don't.  Either way, I'm not willing to test whether this system holds up or not I want this house to be secured and if I have to hire extra people to do that then I will and there's nothing that will get me to change my mind."  Chloe started to protest but Philip stopped her as he knelt before her cupping her face between his palms.  "Chloe, you, Lily, and Nicky are the most important people to me in the world and I couldn't live with myself if I let something happen to any of you when there were things I could do to prevent it."

"I understand that Philip but precautions are one thing and losing my privacy is another."  She replied taking his hands away from her face.

"Well, what would you have me do then?"  He asked as his eyes dulled from their normal bright blue to as dark as the deep ocean at night.  "I can't not protect our family, Chloe."

Sighing she nodded.  "I know and while I don't like it I know it's for the best.  We have to do whatever's necessary to protect our children.  So what's the agenda for tomorrow?"  

"Tomorrow I'm going to try to talk with everyone – Lucas, Rex, and Shawn – we're going to decide the best way to go about things security wise.  I've already talked with my mother, Austin, and Billie.  So they know what needs to be done.  Where are you going to be tomorrow?"

"I have an early afternoon interview tomorrow.  But I'll be here for most of the morning.  Why?"

"No reason I'm just trying to figure how things should got tomorrow.  Do you know what Lily's up to as well?"  He asked looking very thoughtful.

She shrugged.  "I'm not sure but I believe she has plans with Michelle tomorrow.  You should probably ask her, why?"  She asked again this time sure Philip was up to something suspect.  

"Well, I'm thinking that maybe we could talk to her into going to see Stefano or —,"

"Not likely. Philip, you should really give up on having her go see Stefano.  That's not happening.  She's too busy trying to get you to agree to let her go on her first date with Kieran and until she gets what she wants she won't be going anywhere."  Chloe told him.  "So now do you want to hear about Kieran?"

Philip looked less than happy as he thought about his baby girl dating.  He moved to sit back on the corner of the desk as he crossed his arms over his chest.  "Alright let me here it, tell me about boy wonder."  

"Cute, Philip."  Chloe added.  "I don't know why you're so hesitant to hear about this boy, he was actually very sweet when I met him."

"I'm sure he was but, let's be honest Chloe what kind of guy would be a jerk to the mother of the girl he wants to date."

"Besides, you, you mean."  She asked brows raised.

"Cute, Chloe."

"I try."

"Anyways, I bet he was probably playing you anyway."  Philip added getting back to the point of the whole conversation.

"Oh Philip, you can't honestly believe that can you?" His brow rose in question. "Come on he's just a child, only fifteen years old—,"

"Did you say fifteen?"  He asked incredulously.  "Now I know for sure he played you."        

"How?" Chloe asked surprised.

"He's not fifteen, Chloe."

"What do you mean he's not fifteen?  Lily distinctly told me he was fifteen."

"I knew it she played you completely."

Chloe interrupted Philip completely lost.  "Wait a minute what are you talking about?  Do you know something I don't?"

"Let me ask you one thing, do you know if Kieran has a car?"  Philip asked turning back to his desk to pull something out.

"No he can't drive why?"  She rose from her chair and moved to get the folder that Philip was holding out for her.  "What's this?"

"Now don't get upset," he prefaced as he released the folder for her to open the folder.  

She opened the folder and gasped in astonishment.  "You had a fifteen year old boy checked out Philip?  This is a new low even for you, Philip."

Running his hand through his hair, he sighed.  "Just look at the date of birth and you'll see why I had him checked out."

"I can't believe you did this Philip."  She glanced down at the date of birth.  "So what he, he's a Taurus, she's a Leo it's not that serious."  She declared closing the folder.           

"The date, Chloe did you see the date?"  

She looked down again. "May 5, 2008."  Then it hit her. "2008, he's sixteen … he can drive.  That little … she lied to me, I can't believe she lied to my face."  Chloe declared outraged that her daughter had her completely manipulated.

"Exactly, I figured that our _darling_ daughter, probably had something up  her sleeve, which is why we only just found out about him. That's why I had him checked out.  Based on that," he nodded toward the file.  "And our daughter's previous shenanigans I figured that one she probably wasn't telling us everything there is to know about this boy and two that she would have him groomed to what she knows we would like to see when she finally introduced him to us."

"And I played right into her hand; I can't believe I fell for it.  I should have known she would do this."  Chloe added handing him back the folder.  "So what should our next course of action be with Miss Liliana?"

"Well first I say let's get to know the real Kieran O'Neal and then we can decide to act."  He walked over to the door to ensure that Lily wasn't around.  Then he shut it and locked it before returning to the file on the desk.  Picking up the file he flipped it open and began rely all the information he'd found out about Lily's boy wonder.  By, the time he was finished they would know all there was to know about Lily's would-be boyfriend.

*                      *                      *

A couple hours later across town, in the Dimera brownstone, Mimi closed the door to Alex's bedroom as she made her way back downstairs to Rex's home office.

When she arrived Rex was still on the phone talking to Philip about the meeting for the next day.  "Okay well I definitely agree with Austin and Lucas.  We need to get together as soon as possible to discuss what our next plan of action should be.  So a conference call tomorrow would be ideal."  He beckoned her over to him.  Mimi responding by coming behind the desk and settling herself down in his lap.  "So I'll be there tomorrow morning.  Bye, Philip."  He replaced the phone on the hook and pulled his wife back so that her legs were over his.

"You have an early meeting with Philip tomorrow?" Mimi asked bring her arms about his neck.    

"Yeah, Philip wants me there to discuss the security precautions again.  I don't think it will take all that long though, since we've already taken some precautions.  I'm wondering if my loving wife would like to join me for lunch tomorrow after the meeting."  He asked smoothing her hair away from her neck as he leaned down to nuzzle it.

She sighed with pleasure at his ministrations.  "Well your loving wife would love to but she can't.  I'm going to be working tomorrow."  

Instantly the ministrations stopped as he lifted his head up. "Working?"  He questioned, "On what?"  

"It's nothing dangerous if that's what you're worried about.  It's a simple background check.  I should be finished early. I'd cancel it but Jackie is one of my oldest and best clients.  Besides, I agree to do it before the security breaches, it's my job.  It's what I do."

Sighing Rex acquiesced.  "I know, it's just that with everything going on I'm a little wary about you doing anything to call attention to yourself, P.I. or not."

"Don't worry about me Rex.  I'm not doing anything that anything that could get me into trouble."

"Well good.  Now, I've since I've been gone for two days, what do you say we go upstairs to finish this _conversation_?"

"I say definitely but first let make a phone call and check my messages."  Mimi added as she rose from his lap. He stood with her.         

"Okay," Rex moved from behind the desk with her.  "I'll go on up and wait for you.  Don't be too long."

"I won't." Mimi kissed him before he left.  She waited a couple minutes to ensure he was gone before going back to the desk and dialing the number she remembered by heart.  She listened as it rang a total of four times before the answering machine picked up.  

"Obviously I'm not home or I can't answer the phone so leave a message. [Beep]"

"Brady it's Mimi … something's happened at Titan and … I'm worried.  I need to speak to you so please, call me. [Beep]" She hung up the phone and after pausing for a minute went on upstairs to her bedroom where her husband waited for her.

*                      *                      *

"…call me."  Brady sat back and listened to the message again.  Silently debating what to do; he walked over to the answering machine and pressed delete before opening the screen door and stepping out on the moonlit beach. His decision had been made.

Tell me what you think!


	6. 6

Author's Note: Hi guys it's been almost two months since I've updated this story and a month since my last update period.  I am continuing story and SOTH so don't worry about me not finishing because they will both be completed eventually.  The reason I've MIA lately is just a combination of work and school issues.  I'm in my final year of college and in between studying for exams, completing projects, getting ready for midterms and finals I haven't had the time to write or post. 

But, today I took my last final  (yeah for me)!  So to make a long story short I am now able to post latest chapter of Sweet Revenge. So I hope you enjoy it.  Also, I've added a character page to this story on my website that has pictures of the people that I use when I think of the characters in my story.  Please check that out and tell me what you think! So without further ado here's the next chapter.

Check out the character page on my website.

Chapter Six

In a room not too far from an accident, she stood by the windows overlooking a park favored by children.  The door opened behind her, she turned, shrewdly studying the two men she hired for the next job.

"You have one chance to complete this …" she paused glancing briefly at her partner sitting on a couch.  "What should we call this?"

"Activity?" He offered.

She nodded smiling in agreement before placing her gaze back on the two goons, the smile disappearing.  "Yes, activity seems right.  You will only have one chance to complete this activity.  My source, a woman, on the inside will practically give you the child.  But there is only a small window of opportunity so be quick about it and don't screw up.  And after you're done make sure you dispose of the woman. Now, get out of here and do the job I'm paying to do."  With a fling of her hands she dismissed them and immediately the two goons left.

"So you think they'll succeed?" He asked.

"They'd better."  She replied returning to her prior position by the window.  "But, if they don't — they'd better take cover because they'll wish they did by the time I'm done with them.  Go. Watch them make sure these idiots don't blotch this."  She commanded giving her full attention to the window.  Today was going to be a good day; she could feel it assuming especially that everything went as planned.

*                                   *                                   *

Liliana was lounging on her bed reading an old James Patterson novel with her private line rang.  Reaching over to her nightstand she picked up the phone, answering on the third ring.  

"Hello, this Lily."

"Hey Lily, you called earlier?" Kieran replied on his end of the line.

"Kieran," Lily said happy to hear from him as she placed her book on the bed.  "Why didn't you call me back yesterday?"

"I got busy at the office—," she interrupted him.

"Oh that's right you started your internship at Beagle and Case (an architectural firm).  How was it?  I want to hear everything about your first day.  Was it everything you expected?"

"It was great, they took me around on a tour and since I'll be working for them part time next year, they're going to allow me to get the chance to spend time in all of the departments.  But, I don't want to bore you —,"

"You could never bore me, tell me what did you do today."

"Nah, that's alright I'd rather hear about whatever you wanted to talk to me about."

"Well, I actually called to update you on my plan to meet Daddy."

"Uhh, Lily you know this is going to blow up in your face, right?  I mean eventually your parents are going to find out you lied to them."

"I didn't lie, I simply omitted _some_ information not all just a few minor details.  I don't see why it's such a big deal."

"Lily, you told your mother I was fifteen."

"Semantics besides you _were fifteen, last year."_

"Uh huh but how are you going to explain that I have a car and can drive.  Not to mention that I graduate from high school next year.

"Again, that's a simple omission of details.  Besides, that my mom didn't ask so I didn't tell.  I can always tell her that I didn't think it was important to be mentioned or that I forgot."

"Okay, that's all well and good but what happens when they find out we've been going out since May, you know that would be three months before you even told them about me."

"I don't know.  When it comes up I'll think of something.  Kieran if it didn't bother you three months ago that I wasn't telling my parents everything why should it now?"

"Correction, it bothered me then too Lily.  And I told you then that we would just come clean with them.  But you said and I quote—,"

She interrupted him before he could complete the statement.  "I know what I said.  And I still stand by my original statement."  She paused sighing momentarily. "Look you have to understand, I'm my father's only daughter so naturally he's protective of me.  Letting me date would be like letting me go, letting me grow up.  And Daddy just isn't ready for that; he's not ready to let me grown up yet."         

Kieran sighed.  "I get it, I get it but I still think that ultimately I'd be better off just being myself rather than this image of some sort of sweet, timid-scared-of-his-own shadow guy."

"But, you are a sweet guy.  Not timid, I give you that but you're definitely not some jerk off.  In fact, all things considered you're one of the nicest guys I've ever met, period.   Which, is why I want you to make the perfect impression on my parents.  So will you please just go with my plan once more, just to meet my Dad?"  Lily begged knowing that he would agree with her way of thinking eventually.  There was a pause on line.     

"Okay, against my better judgment I'll do this one last time.  I'll be Kieran O'Neal boy wonder.  But, I want you to remember when this all comes back to haunt you that I was against this completely."

"Remembered and duly noted.  Now, here's what we're going to do …" Lily began as she once again outlined her plan to present Kieran in the best father-pleasing way.

Chloe walked to meet Mimi at the front door.  She had just arrived home herself after spending her morning with her manager in the city.   After hearing about all the break-ins at Titan and the archives, she and Mimi decided to conduct their own little mini investigation in helping out their husbands.  They figured that whoever had hacked into the security system at Titan and then breached the archive records clearly had some knowledge of the way the systems were built and more importantly had worked closely with Victor or someone else in the executive offices.  So they compiled a list of possible suspects who would have worked with Victor closely within the last ten years.

Chloe opened the door to Mimi.   "So I take you got the list?"

"Of course, although it took more time than I initially thought it would.  But, my connections came through 100%."  Mimi answered walking into the house with a small briefcase.

"Great we can get started going through the list in a second; I just want to check on the boys."

"Alex wasn't any trouble, was he?"

Chloe shook her head grinning sardonically.  "Are you kidding Alex is never any trouble.  This makes me wonder if he's even your child."  They rounded the corner to the children's playroom to see the boys sleeping.  Lissette saw them at the doorway and made a point of coming out of the room.  She was dressed to go out in gray slacks and a pink sleeveless blouse.  "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going out to lunch with Danny's mother."  Lissette answered scrunching her face up.

"Well it can't be that bad.  Or are she and your mother still rehashing ideas for your wedding?"

"That's it, pretty much.  Mom and Shelia can't seem to agree on anything at this point.  I almost wish I had agreed to elope when Danny asked me to and saved myself all this drama."

"Well the drama can be fun you know.  But, keep the faith maybe today will be the day that they finally agree."

"I doubt it."  Lissette sighed.  "I'll be back in an hour or two to take the boys to their playgroup."

Chloe nodded hesitantly. "Oh I assume than that Philip already talked to you about keeping the boys indoors for the day?"

"Yes, I plan on it."

"Good, then have a good lunch."  Chloe replied sending Lissette on her way as she and Mimi walked the short distance to the lounge area.  She closed to door so as to ensure their privacy from prying eyes and ears namely those of Liliana.

"Everything ended up checking out and we've got the list narrowed down to a select group of plausible women."

"A select group?" Chloe questioned.

"Yes, it definitely wasn't easy but I got a list of over one hundred women down to a plausible twenty-six. "  Mimi answered as she placed the small briefcase on the table, opening it and pulling out some papers.

Chloe took some of the sheets on the table and scanned several of the names noting the couple she knew or had been introduced to. "How were you able to minimize our choices to so few women?"

"I called Belle and Sámi and had them check off anyone they knew on the list that couldn't have been a suspect.  Between the two of them several people were eliminated."

Nodding as she flipped through several pages of info she glanced up pausing on one page.  "What are the asterisks on some of the names?"

"They are for people Belle and Sámi knew about from the list meaning that they either worked for Titan or Basic Black at some point.  But, they didn't know the person, personally.  So what do you want to do with the list now?"

"We should go give it to our darling husbands and do the rest of the grunt work of pulling up these files.  They may even know some of the people so we can eliminate more suspects."  Chloe rose from her seat pulling the papers on the desk into a neat pile she gave the file to Mimi who pocketed it before heading out the door toward the library where Philip and Rex had been held up all morning.

Lily ran down the stairs making her way to the kitchen to grab herself a bite to eat.  As she passed the boys playroom she noticed that Lissette had them putting on their shoes.

"Are you taking the boys to the park?"

Lissette looked up for a moment surprised to see anyone at the doorway.  She quickly composed herself as she rose from tying Nicky's shoelaces so Lily wouldn't see how nervous she was.  "Yes, I'm taking the boys out for their daily constitutional. "

Lily nodded.  "But, I thought that Daddy didn't want them going out?"

"He changed his mind."

"Oh, if you say so.  I'll see you later then."  Lily replied back.  "Have fun guys, bye." She moved on then heading down the hallway to the kitchen.

Lissette breathed a sigh of relief as she watched her boss' daughter continue down the hallway.   She pushed hair back behind her ears.  "What do you want me to do now?"

A mechanical voiced answered through the tiny earpiece she was wearing.  "Take the boy and go to the Lincoln Memorial Park grounds.  When you get there sit down on a bench directly across from the sand box and await your next instructions.  Remember, the car is wired with a tracking device if you go anywhere but to the park we'll know and your mother-in-law is dead.   You have exactly thirty minutes from the time you start the car to get there, be a minute late and we'll start cutting her bit by bit." The voice then buzzed off.

Her hands trembling, Lissette pulled her hair over her ears and then turned to the boys.  She had to do this she didn't have a choice.  So she pulled herself together, "O-okay boys lets go, shall we.  Your friends are waiting for you."  She said with false cheerfulness that plagued her mind with guilt. Holding out both hands she waited for Nicky and Alex to take them as she lead them down the hall, with a quick glance at the closed library door, and out the house.  Her last thought as she left the Kiriakis Mansion was that she hoped she didn't get killed for what she was about to do and for someone, anyone to get her out of the mess she was in.

Chloe and Mimi had bombarded their flustered husbands with their newly printed list of viable suspects over an hour ago.  Now, they were able to eliminate a total of fifteen people off of the list.  The only had eleven more women to check the backgrounds of before they knew who the true culprit of the stolen information from the data archives truly was.  It was simply a matter of checking the details and facts.

Chloe sat beside her husband in a chair behind the desk watching as he typed another name into the Titan database for information.  Mimi and Rex sat beside one another at the table, Mimi was held the files of names and Rex was busy accessing the Phoenix Enterprises database from his laptop computer.

"Alright Suzanne Reynolds is clear, so who's next on the list?"  Philip asked as he went back the Titan mainframe.

"The next person on the list is …" Mimi said as she paused in shuffling some papers around looking the original list.  Rex found it for her.

"One, Elena T'gre – that's t-apostrophe-g-r-e." 

"Elena T'gre," Philip mumbled as he typed the name into the Titan database and waited for some information to pop up.  A few seconds later the screen came up with no information available, which meant that she, had never been in that database.  "There's nothing on her here.  Are you sure she's supposed to be on the Titan database?"  He questioned as his brow ruffled.

"If her name is on the list then she should be in on the database.  I ran a check on anyone who had been employed by Titan and Phoenix Enterprises within the last ten years.  I cross-referenced the list myself.  Maybe she never officially worked for Titan maybe it was just Phoenix, I don't know."

"Either way she's not in my database."  Philip sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"So then maybe someone erased her from the database, it's not like that could never happen.  Just put her name on to the side and let me see what I can find out about her."

"That sounds like a plan, Meems."  Chloe offered glancing at her watch.  "I have a couple more hours before I need to go to my interview so let's get through these last few people."  She added get ready to look through another list.

"No we should take a break, we've been at this for hours already and then we can just finish going through the list after your interview.  I don't want you rushing out to get ready for you interview.  It's important."

"Well it's not as important as what we're doing.  Besides, I can be ready in a half hour for my interview, there's no need to worry about that.  The sooner we get this done the faster we can get a chance for everything to go back to normal."

"Fine but we should still take a break."

"I agree," Rex added as he closed the computer. 

"Finally, if we kept this up any longer I was afraid I'd have to threaten bodily harm to one of you.  I'm going to get a drink and check on Alex, you coming Chloe?" Mimi asked rising as she stretched from her seat.

"No you can go ahead I'm going to see if I can convince my dear husband to massage my shoulders." She flicked her head toward her husband.

"Okay." Mimi said smiling before heading out of the library.

"So how about it Mr. Kiriakis, will you rub my shoulders?" Chloe as she pulled her long hair over one shoulder as she settled onto his lap.

Philip grinned as he pulled her across his lap, her legs going over the arm of the chair.  "I don't know maybe you should be rubbing my shoulders."  His arm came up around her waist as one of hers went around his neck.

"I'll have to think about it."  She leaned down to meet his lips in a kiss.  Their lips had barely made contact when Mimi reentered the room.

"The boys weren't in the playroom, I guess Lissette got back early from her lunch and took them out." She said as she reclaimed her seat next to Rex sipping from her glass of soda. 

Rex frowned, as he took off his black wire framed glasses rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What are you talking about Meems?  Lissette isn't taking the boys anywhere today, the play date was cancelled."

Chloe pulled away from Philip in confusion.  "The play date was cancelled?" She asked Philip.

"Yeah," he nodded.  "Michelle called earlier and said that some of the kids at the center got the chicken pox and instead of taking a chance of infecting other children, they closed the center for the rest of week until the chicken pox isn't a problem anymore." Philip answered.

"And you told Lissette this?" Chloe replied back as she slowly began to stand, uneasily. 

"Of course, why?" Philip asked bringing his seat into its upright position as Chloe started to back away.

"When I saw Lissette earlier she said that she was getting ready to leave the house to meet her future mother-in-law to discuss plans for her wedding."

"So?" 

"So she told us that she was taking the boys out when she got back … to the play date." Mimi answered feeling Chloe's agitation as the phone started to ring.     

Philip picked it up on the second ring. "Kiriakis."           

"Do you know where your children are?  I do." A mechanical voice said before clicking off. Philip dropped the phone on the hook as he stood.

"Philip, who was it?" Chloe asked but he didn't answer her as he picked the phone up again and pressed a number.

"Has Lissette Graves left the premises?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Kiriakis about an hour ago." The voice of a young man answered.

"Was she alone?"

"No, sir she said she had your approval sir. Is anything wrong?" The voice answered promptly again.         Philip clenched the phone in his hand, closing his eyes. "Sir, Mr. Kiriakis?" the voice sounded again. 

"Lock the gates and don't let anyone in or out of the estate unless you hear from me personally." He placed the phone on the hook, slowly raising his gaze to meet the others in the room.

"Oh my god, she took them, she took Nicky and … and Alex." Mimi guessed her voice cracking at the mention of her son. The glass she had been holding slipped from her hands and broke, tears feeling her eyes. Rex stood and took his wife in his arms.

"What about Lily?  Did she have Lily?" Chloe asked.

"I-I don't know, he didn't say," Philip started as Chloe took off out of the room.  He went after her instinctively knowing where she was going. Together they ran up the stairs and down the hallway to get to the family apartments.  They got to their daughter's bedroom, and opened the door.  Chloe walked in first closely followed by Philip.  Lily wasn't on her bed; she wasn't in her room at all.  They checked her walk in closets, private bathroom … everywhere; she was nowhere to be found.  

Chloe picked a picture of her daughter and son taken just a year earlier when they had visited Stefano on Eixel.  "They're gone Philip.  Someone's just taken my babies."  Tears that had been waiting to fall as they'd searched the circumference of Lily's room started to fall.  Pulled her into his arms

"It's okay Chloe we'll get them back; I promise you we will get them." Philip said holding her tightly within the frame of his arms as they stood with their backs to the door.

Lily entered her bedroom singing to the music in her headphones. "I wanna know what love is … I want to show me…" Philip and Chloe jerked their heads toward their daughter entering her room.  Lily arched her brows surprised to see her parents embraced in the middle of her room, she pulled off her headphones.  "Mom, Dad what are you —,"         The words died on her lips as Philip and Chloe embraced her in a hug, kissing her cheeks. When they pulled back from her a bit, giving her enough room to breath she asked, "What's going on?"

*                                   *                                   *

Lissette had driven the boys to Lincoln Memorial Park and let them out of the car to go play on the playground as she sat down on the bench and awaited her next instructions. She sat on the bench watching the boys play, thinking of a way; anyway she could possibly get out of this nightmare she was in.  Unbeknownst to her, caught up in her own thoughts, a man dressed in all black slinked up behind her and quickly stuck a needle in the back of her neck releasing chemicals into her blood.  Then, as quickly as he walked up he moved on as she slumped in her seat, he pocketed the needle.

Nicky kicked the ball out of the bounds of the wooded park area.  He spotted the ball several feet away lying in the grass. Knowing that he wasn't supposed to leave the park area he bit his lip as he decided what to do.  Glancing over to Lissette he saw that her head was down as if she were looking at something on the ground.  He decided that since he would be back before she even looked up.  He quickly ran out of the wooded area of the park to the grass for his red ball.  When he got to the place he had last seen it, it was in the hands of girl.  She looked as if she was just a few years older than his sister.

"Is this your ball?" She asked kneeling down so that she was his height.  She was pretty with hair lighter than his sister but not as long with blue green eyes.  

"Yes, thank you." He replied as she offered back the ball so he could take it.

"You're welcome … Nicky."

His eyebrows rose as he placed the ball on his hip.  "You know my name?" He asked although it was more of a question.

The girl nodded.  "Yeah, you see I know your Dad.  My name is Angelica.  You can call me Angel."  She offered her hand but before he could shake it, a tall man appeared behind her.

"Angel, they've taken out the nanny.  We need to get out of here now."  He told her urgently and then noticed the small child standing before her.  "Is that him?"

"Yes," she answered as she swiftly stood.  "This is Tristian Nikos, Nicky.  Nicky, this is my—Patrick. Are you sure they're gone?" The man nodded his eyes on the child.

"They did something to the Nanny; she's completely out of it.  If we're going to get out of this without getting caught, it has to be now."

"Okay then we need to move quickly," Angelica bit her lip slightly as she thought about her options.  Leaning in close to Patrick so that Nicky wouldn't be able to overhear her she added, "Get the nanny, I'll take Nicky." Patrick nodded and handed her a small handkerchief sized piece of cloth. 

Patrick kept hold of her chin so she wouldn't move away from him just yet.  He leaning down he whispered, "I'll meet you back at the car." Brushing his lips against hers he moved again away from her and headed back toward the park.

She watched him go before kneeling back down to Nicky's level.  "Nicky, I need you to come with me please."

The small child shook his head. "Momma and Daddy said to never go with someone I don't know—."

"But, Nicky, I'm not a stranger I promise you. I-I know you're Daddy, please Nicky," She held out her hand hoping he would take it.  

"No," was all Nicky said before he started to back away.  Slowly, he started to turn to run away from the strange woman. But, before he got very far, he felt her arms come around him.  He opened his mouth to scream but couldn't as a place of cloth was placed over his mouth and nose, he breathed it in and within seconds everything went black all around him.

"I'm sorry, Nicky." Angel whispered as she stood turning Nicky around so that his prone body lay against her shoulder.  After taking a second to adjust his position on her shoulder she glanced up at the park and saw three men in black circling the playground, they were looking for someone but thanks to her they weren't going to get him.  Not this time.  She turned around and started walking swiftly to the parking lot on the other side of the park where she and Patrick had come from.  Patrick was already at the car settling the nanny into the black Mercedes' Escalade.  

He walked to the other side of the car, holding the door open as she walked up and took Nicky from her and buckled him into the car seat before closing the door.  He climbed into the passenger seat, tossing the keys to Angel, who put them into the ignition and started the car.  "So where to now?" He asked glancing back at the two passengers in the seat behind him.

"Well I think it's time we shook the family tree and see what falls down." She replied putting the car into reverse and then drive before pulling out of the parking lot with the gravel flying.

            *                                   *                                   *

**Back at the Manor…******

Philip and Chloe took Lily down to the library and calmly explained to her what had happened at Titan, at Phoenix Enterprises, and what Philip had found out before he had come home that made him take extra precautions around the mansion.  She had been very angry when she found out, astounded that neither of her parents hadn't seen fit to inform her about the new revelations until it seemed that her baby brother had been taken.

Lily crossed her arms as she set about to pace around the room yet again. She glanced over at her parents sitting side by side behind the desk then over at her Aunt Mimi and Uncle Rex.  Both sets of parents were silent, as if lost in their own thoughts.  Enough was enough, something had to be done.  "I get that someone wants something from you Daddy.  But, why take Nicky and Alex; it just doesn't make any sense. So what are we going to do now, Daddy?"  She asked with a mixture of fear and concern in her eyes.  All plans of dates with Kieran forgotten the only thing on her mind the safe return of her baby brother and Alex.

"We're going to find him Lily."  Philip answering rising from his seat beside Chloe to take his daughter in his arms knowing that she was just as shaken up with Nicky and Alex's  disappearance as he and Chloe were.  But, more so on her part because she had been the last one to see them.  Hugging his daughter close he kissed the top of her head, his eyes meeting Chloe's above her head as she stood across from him.

"What are we waiting for Philip?" Rex asked settling his wife in a seat before turning to his cousin-in-law.  The phone on Philip's desk rang once.  

"That," he replied kissing Lily's head once more before gently pushing her toward Chloe as he went to answer the phone which rang for the second time.  "Yes," he answered sternly.

There was a moment of pause but a mechanical voice answered him. "I've got your son Kiriakis.  And I'll get your daughter too—,"

"What do you want from me? Give me back my son!" He demanded the anger evident in his voice.  

"Give me what I want and you'll get back your son.  Refuse and I'll make all those who are important to you disappear.  Don't contact the police or FBI, if you do you'll never see your son again.  I'll contact you with further instructions later.  And remember I'm watching you." And then there was silence. 

Philip gripped the phone in his hand tightly, his jaw clenching as he hung up the phone.  All eyes were on him, watching, waiting for him to relay the message.  He picked the phone and threw it across the room.

"Philip,"

"Daddy," Chloe and Lily called out simultaneously the power of their voices pulling Philip from entering the black void of anger and despair he was feeling. 

He froze silently feeling the anger ebb slowly out of his system as sorrow filled it.  "They took him." He said softly his eye gazing over directed his gaze to Mimi and Rex.  "And Alex too."

"No," Mimi cried rising from her seat only to pulled once more into the comforting arms of Rex's arms sobbing.  The house intercom system beeped.

"Mr. Kiriakis," the voice called out.

Philip swiftly walked over to system and pressed a button. "What!"

"Uh-h Mr. Kiriakis, sir. There's someone at the gate who says she need to see you."

"Didn't I say that no one comes in or out?"

"Ye-yes sir but she's very insistent that she see you.  She says she has some imperative information about your son."  The guard answered back and awaited further instruction from his employer.

"Let her through."  Philip answered and then clicked the intercom off as he headed out of the room.

"Philip, wait a minute where are you going?" Chloe called out after Philip but it was to no anvil as he had already passed through the doorway followed by Rex and Mimi.   Knowing that she also wanted to see just who this illustrious person was that had information on her son she turned to her daughter. "Lily, I want you to stay in here and don't come out until I get back." Pushing her daughter's long hair off her shoulder she caressed her cheek once before turning following the path her husband had traveled before her.

By the time she caught up to Rex, Mimi and Philip they all stood on the porch watching as a black SUV pulled up into the driveway with black-tented windows.  When it came to a complete stop the passenger door opened to reveal a tall broad-shoulder young man who looked to be in his early twenties.

"Who is that?" Chloe asked as Philip and Rex started to move away from the porch.

"I don't know, stay here." Philip answered walking toward the man as he went to a side of the SUV pulled open the door and lifted someone out of the backseat.  As Philip and Rex got near the man the saw that he was carrying an unconscious young woman, Lissette.

"Can I get some help here?" The man asked Rex looked at Philip before he approached the man.

"Who are you?" Philip nodded as Rex took an unconscious Lissette out of the man's arms.

"Look, I don't know what they gave her but she should be fine."

Philip turned his steely gray gaze onto the man as he slowly began to walk closer to the man who was an inch or two taller than him.  "I'm going to ask you one more time, who are you and what do you know about my son?"

"Angel," the man called not breaking his gaze with the older man.  "I could use a little help here."

"Give me a second Patrick," a breathy feminine voice called from the other side of the car.

Philip looked over at the direction of voice and immediately was taken by surprise at bundle of joy the other person held in her arms.

"Nicky." Chloe called from the porch, she had just returned from seeing Rex and Mimi getting Lissette settled into the house.  She rushed over to the girl and took her son from the girl's arms.  Immediately she was stuck by how unresponsive he was.  "What's wrong with him?" She raised her gaze to the girls awaiting her answer.  But, before the girl had a chance to respond the young man did.

"We had to give him cyanide so he would come with us—," the man whose name apparently was Patrick answered.

"You drugged my son?" Philip demanded unable to hide the steel in his voice redirecting his gaze on Patrick.

Chloe softly smoothed over her son's soft blonde hair.  Holding him tightly in her arms she breathed in his soft baby scent before redirecting her gaze on the girl who had held him and was struck her presence, the look on her face as she watched Chloe with Nicky.  She recognized it well, a look only a mother could have, one she held herself before Nicky had been brought back to her, and it was longing for a lost child.

"Only a little … we had to.  But, he'll be fine.  He's completely unharmed, we would never harm fa … him," Patrick answered before breaking the gaze with the man in front of him to see Angel watching Chloe and Nicky. "Angel," he moved past Philip to go to her, effectively blocking Philip's view of her.  

Philip noted the falter and asked again. "Who are you? 

"Nicky," Lily called running out of the house to her mother.  She gushed over her baby brother completely oblivious to other people around her.  

"Take him in the house Lily, he needs to lie down."  Chloe order gently as she passed her son into Lily's open arms brushing a kiss on his cheek. "I'll be in, in a minute. Now, go."  

Lily nodded as she finally noticed two other people standing beside the SUV.  But, instead of staying and letting her curiosity get the better of her she did as her mother had asked and left. As she left she knew that whatever happened she would definitely find out about it later.

Philip had walked around the car and was standing next to his wife awaiting an answer to his question.  For some reason, he needed to see the woman who answered to the name Angel.  He couldn't explain why he'd suddenly felt the need to see her but something about her voice called to him.

Patrick blocked any view of Angel as he tended to her.  Pulling her chin up so that his gaze met hers he asked the question he needed to know the answer to.  "Angel, are you ready for this?" He asked softly.

"No, but I-we need his help to get her back." Smiling slightly, her blue-green eyes twinkled.  "Everything's going to be alright, I promise."  Removing his hand from her chin, she leaned into him breathing in his scent, she pushed him away.  "My name is Angel, Angelica and this is Patrick." She moved to stand beside Patrick so that Philip could see her fully. "And no we would never hurt Nicky … I could never hurt my brother."   

"What?" Chloe gasped staring at the girl in confusion before turning gaze on Philip.  And unlike her his reaction wasn't confusion, it was shock.

"An-Angelica," Philip said his steely gray eyes melting into a vibrate blue as he stared at the young woman before him in shock.

"Hel-hello Daddy," Angel answered as she went into Philip's arms.

"Chloe I saw Lily take Nicky upstairs, where's Alex?" Mimi said as she rushed down beside her friend. 

"Who's Alex?" Patrick asked moving his gaze from Angel and her father to Mimi.

"My son, the other little boy who was with Nicky?  You got him too didn't you?" 

"There was no other child, there was just Nicky." Angel answered as she pulled herself slightly of Philip's arms.

"Oh my god," Mimi cried as she raised her hands to her face.  "They took Alex, they took my son." Slowly Mimi fell to her knees on the ground her tears falling full-force, "Alex." She screamed and then collapsed into a storm of tears.

Please tell me what you think and don't forget to check out the character page to see what Lily, Kieran, Angel and Patrick look like.


	7. 7

Author's Note: I worked very hard on this chapter and I was planning getting this out sooner but my beta reader was only able to get it back to me today at the earliest.  I'm working on chapter eight and I'm won't be making any promises as to when it will be out I'd like to put it out next week but I have two exams at the beginning an end of next week so I have no idea when I'll be able to get it out.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter so with out further ado …

**Chapter Seven**

Rex reentered the library after assuring that Mimi would alright questioning the now conscious Lissette about how she was contacted in the first place without him present.  He was amazed at how fast his wife had bounced back after learning that it was their son instead of Philip and Chloe's had been taken.  She was all business now and aimed at getting enough information to track the kidnapper's whereabouts.  As he walked into the library he saw Chloe staring angrily at Philip across the room.  While, Philip's apparent daughter and her man friend sat side by side on the couch.

"So how about it Philip why don't you tell me how in the hell you have a child— a daughter no less— and never saw fit to tell me?  After all we've been through how could you not tell me about this … her?"

"Chloe, I never intentionally meant to keep her from you.  I just—it's just that I honestly never expected to see her.  I didn't even know she knew who I was." Philip answered honestly knowing that Chloe had every right to be angry with him.  Still though, he needed her to understand that his keeping Angel a secret wasn't exactly as cut and dry as it seemed. 

"He's telling you the truth, Mrs. Kiri—," Angel supplied trying to aid her father.

"Chloe," she stalled her with a hand. "You can call me Chloe."

"Chloe, "Angel amended as she stood up.  "My mother, she disappeared when she was six months pregnant with me.  This is the first time I've ever met," she glanced toward Philip tenderly.  "My father."

Chloe took time to study the girl … scratch that _young woman_ standing before Philip.   This woman was her stepdaughter, Lily and Nicky's older half-sister and no matter had happened in the past this young woman was apart of her family, now and forever.  "Why did she leave?"

"I don't know for sure but she mentioned something about my grandfather coming to see her —,"

Philip interrupted her in with surprise evident in his voice, "My father saw her?" He honestly thought Victor had never known about Angel's mother.  And if the old man had he definitely hadn't mentioned it to him.  "Do you know when he saw her?"

"Just before she left apparently.  She never said what happened or what they talked about, at least not to me. " 

"Where is your mother now, if you don't mind me asking?" Chloe said curious to know where this mysterious other woman was who had a relationship with Philip.  

"My mother is dead.  She died in a car accident when I was three."

"I'm sorry." Chloe said sincerely.  "Who raised you after your mother died?"

"My Aunt Elena and her husband … actually they are the ones who introduced me to Patrick."  Angel glanced over at Patrick, who still sat on the sofa, with warmth in her eyes.  

Philip noted the change in her demeanor when she said Patrick's name as well as the look in her eyes; she was in love with this man.  Obviously, they were in some sort of relationship, now the only question was what _kind_ of relationship.  "So Patrick who are you exactly to my daughter?" He asked asserting his role as the protective father as easily with Angel as he did with Lily.

"Philip," Chloe admonished though she was not surprised that he had asked the question.  This of course was the same man who only the day before admitted to have his daughter's potential suitor checked out.  However, given all that had happened in the past couple of hours it was the wrong time.

"It's okay Chloe." Angel said as she waved her hand in surrender.

It was then that Philip saw it, a thin silver band on her left hand.  That ring of course could mean many things but the only obvious conclusion would be to assume it meant that Angel and Patrick were married.  With a swift glance at Patrick's left hand he saw and identical ring on his finger, it was confirmed. "You're married." He ground out.

"Yes, Patrick and I have been married for almost three years. "

"But, you're only twenty-one.  That's hardly old enough to be married, let alone mature enough." 

"Hold it before this erupts into a battle of Kiriakis tempers, I'd like to remind you that my son is still missing." Rex interrupted ready to bring attention to the more important issue of finding his child.

"Rex is right.  Our focus needs to be on finding Alex we can deal with all this family stuff later." She glanced at Rex.  "Is Mimi finished questioning Lissette?"

"Not yet, I'll go check and see."  Rex left the room.

"And while he's doing that I'm going to see if Nicky is up yet and check on Lily."

Angel walked over to Chloe stopping her before she could leave the room, with a hand on her shoulder.  "Chloe please let me go.  I'd like the chance to really introduce myself to her."

"I don't know, Lily will be very," she paused, "_curious_ about you, she's got a naturally inquisitive nature."

"She's nosy." Philip said with a droll expression but then continued. "But, you and Patrick should and check on Lily so Chloe and I can talk."  Given the current situation this was probably the only time he was going to get a chance to tell Chloe his side of the story.

"Tell her that we'll be down here if she needs anything."

"Alright, then Patrick and I will just be going." Angel said as she took Patrick's hand and pulled him along behind her out of the library.

And then it was just Philip and Chloe, completely alone in the room.  "You wanted to talk, so talk. But, bear in mind Philip Kiriakis I am beyond upset with you right now and probably will remain so for quite a while.  I really can't understand how you could keep something like this from me.  And dare I remind you that when I kept Lily from you because of Victor you gave me _a lot_ of grief Philip."

"I know I did but you have to understand Chloe, I didn't intentionally keep this from you.  Like I said before I honestly didn't think she knew who I was and if she did I didn't think she'd want anything to do with me."

"What do you mean _if_ she knew about you? Obviously, she knew who you were or she wouldn't be here."

"I never slept with her mother; she was artificially inseminated with my sperm.  If you want all the gory details I'll give them to you but, I think we have more important things to be concerned about."  He really didn't want to get into this right now when it was obvious nothing he could say would calm her down.

Taking in a deep breath, Chloe bit her lip.  "You're right; of course we have more important things to be worry about.  And don't give me gory details just tell me how it is that you came to think she wouldn't ever look for you Philip.  That she wouldn't be curious to know what her father is like, no matter the circumstances of how she was conceived."

"I-I gave up my rights to her, legally I have no paternal rights to her, I signed them away."

"What!" Chloe exclaimed with the thought that she didn't think there was anyway Philip could keep surprising her.

"You have to understand at the time I thought I what was doing the best for her.  And if I had to do all over again, maybe I wouldn't have given up my rights, I don't know.  I made my decision because I had to do what was right for her."

"Philip, I'm trying really hard to understand what you did and your keeping this from me but you're not making it easy."  She closed her eyes at the tension-filled headache she felt coming on and recalled a time seven years ago when Philip had learned that Lily was his daughter, her eyes snapped open.  "When you found out that Lily was yours you practically threatened to take her from me in order to keep your child.  But, now I come to find out not only did you have another child all long but you gave her up.  Philip, I need you to explain this to me because I don't get it."

"Do you want the abridged or the no holds barred version?" Philip asked as he walked around his desk and pulled open a drawer.

"The abridged version." Chloe answered watching as he pulled out a thin metallic case and entered in a combination.  After he opened the case he slid its contents toward her on the other side of desk.

"About six months after she left, I got this box in the mail."  Chloe began going through box starting with a copy of birth announcement that stated: It's a girl along with a several 3x4 photographs of a newborn baby with fuzzy light brown hair and blue eyes.  "And every six months after that for three years I would get a package with pictures but no return address or contact information," he explained as Chloe continued to flip though several photos clearly denoting Angel's growth from a newborn to a toddler.

"She was beautiful Philip." Chloe said as she thumbed though the photos.  After placing them back into the silver case she pierced her husband with a questioning gaze.

Philip lifted one of photos off the pile; it was of a three-year old Angel playing with a toy car.  He smiled sadly as he gazed at his daughter.  "Another six months had passed and there was no package … Tara, Angel's mother was killed in a car accident two months after Angel's third birthday.  By the time I found out and then consequently found Angel she was almost four."

"What happened after her mother died?"

"Apparently, her mother had an older sister and she took Angel in.  When I found out that Tara had died I asked Lucas if he knew anyone that could help me find her.  He gave me the number for a private security firm.  It took them less then three months to find her.  I figured that I could just show up and take Angel because no one wants to be bothered with a child that isn't their own right … I was wrong."

"Oh Philip," Chloe sighed wanted to reach out and take him in her arms to comfort just as she would Nicky or Lily but for some reason her legs wouldn't move.  Something inside her made her wait to hear the rest.

He tossed the photograph back into the thin case as he sat down in his chair behind the desk, clasping his hands together.  "I had the guy take picture of Angel for a couple of days before I finally went to see her for myself.  Even in the pictures I could tell that she was happy.  But, I just knew that there was no way she could really be all that happy without having either her mother or father in her life so I went down to her home.  I watched her for a week maybe more; I saw her interacting with her aunt and uncle.  How happy they made her, how happy she was with them and I knew, I knew I couldn't take her away from that.  I mean what kind of father would I be if I took her from the two people she had who clearly loved her."

He gazed at Chloe as if expecting her to answer him before he continued on with his tale.  "I just couldn't make myself take her away from all that, so I hired an attorney there in Louisiana to see about giving up my paternal rights to her so that her aunt and uncle could adopt her if they wanted.   I made sure to leave enough information with the attorney so that if she ever wanted to find me for anything she could.  I also had an amendment placed on my will so that she would inherit a portion of my wealth so she would be taken care if I died.  A day or so after everything was finalized her uncle came to see me.  Apparently, I hadn't been as covert as I initially thought when I watched Angel anyway, he asked me what I intended to do about her, if I planned to take her away. "

"So then you gave him the papers that legally made you no longer her father." Chloe finished.

"Yes, that's the whole sorted story.  I know this wasn't easy for you to hear but I'm glad you gave me a chance to say my piece.  I-I just honestly believed she would never come to look for me."

"And if she hadn't come today do you … would have told me about her?"

"Honestly, I don't know." He answered.

Chloe nodded knowing that while it wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for, it was an honest one.  "For what it's worth Philip, I don't believe that Angel would ever give up a chance to know her father because you allowed her a chance to stay and be happy with the only family she'd ever known."           

"Thank you for that," Philip rose from his seat to take her in his arms.  "And thank you for understanding."

She held him off with her hands, "Don't thank me just yet Philip.  While I understand why you gave up your daughter, that in no way makes up from you not telling me about her.  Not by a long shot."

"I know that.  I wasn't expecting it to be water under the bridge.  I'm just thanking you for hearing me out."

Lowering her hands, she stared at him.  "After this is all over and Alex is home.  You and I are going have a serious talk."

"I expected no less." Philip sighing as he stepped back from Chloe with an acknowledgement of her standoff position.   "I—," he started again but was interrupted as Mimi reentered the room with Rex behind her.

"Alright, I've talked to Lissette and we have to get focused on who stole my son and make them pay." Mimi declared in a calm, cool voice that gave away her meaning business tone.  And with that Philip and Chloe put their family drama on the sidelines and redirected their attention to Mimi as she informed them of what she'd learned from Lissette.

*           *           *           *           *

Lily watched as her little brother slept peacefully on the middle of her bed.  Every since he'd arrive home some hours ago he'd slept as though he had no care in the world.  Although, she was happy that her brother had been returned to her without a scratch on him, she couldn't keep her mind from reeling over the fact that she had an older half-sister downstairs.  She'd always wanted to know what it would be like to have an older sister especially as she watched her cousins interact with one another whenever they got together.  Well, now she'd finally get the chance to find out what that would be like.  That is as soon as her mother allowed her to go downstairs.

Sighing, her thoughts then turned to her aunt Mimi and missing cousin Alex.   It was shame that her brother had been rescued only to have Alex taken by mistake.  She wondered what would happen when the kidnapper figures out that they had taken the wrong child.  Would they hurt Alex or would they try to take Nicky again?  

[KNOCK-KNOCK] A sound came from her door.  
  


"Come in." Lily answered figuring that it was her mother coming to check on her and Nicky.  But, to her surprise it was her half-sister and that guy.  "Oh, hi … I thought you were my mom."

"Hi," Angel said walking into her younger sister's room with Patrick behind her.  "Your mother wanted me to check on you, see if you were alright."

"Oh, well, I'm fine and Nicky," she glanced down at the sleeping child on the bed.  "He's still sleeping so I guess that means he's fine too."

"Good."

"Yeah, good." Lily said as she eyed her sister and then sat down next to her brother on the bed.  "So …"

"My name is Angel, Angelica actually, and this is Patrick," she raised her left hand with the wedding ring.  "My husband."

Lily's toffee colored eyes went wide in surprise as she looked from Angel to Patrick.  "You're married?"

"Yes, Patrick and I have been married for almost three years."

"Wow, and you're only twenty-one," Lily paused gazing inquiringly at Patrick.  "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-three." Patrick answered cocking his head to one side as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.  "And you?"

"Oh, I'm fourteen but I'll be fifteen in a couple of months.  Well technically next year but that's just semantics.  Anyway so how did you meet?" Lily asked with a feigned enthusiasm.

"My father married her aunt when I was fifteen but we've known each other since we were little."   Patrick answered as he pulled out a chair and sat down in front of her desk.

"Yeah, Patrick was an annoying pest when we were younger; he used to tease me mercilessly.  And when I started dating, he scared away all of my potential boyfriends." Angel added as she moved to stand behind her husband bracing her hands on his shoulders.

"That's because before me the only guys you were interested in were losers.  I was the best boyfriend you ever had, you should be lucky to have me."

Leaning down, Angel pressed a quick kiss to his lips.  "Yes, you're right you are the best." Rising back up she winked at Lily smiling, "So Lily do you have a boyfriend?"

"I wish.  Daddy won't let me date until I'm fifteen we made a deal when I was younger." Lily answered shrugging.

"That's good idea.  I'll have to remember that for Eva." Patrick said under his breath only to have his wife dig her nails into his shoulder blades in response.  His slight grimace did not go unnoticed by Lily as he would have hoped.

"So … who's Eva?" 

Angel looked down at her husband biting her lip hesitantly before she answered.  "Eva … she's no one—,"

"Someone we know at home." Patrick said simultaneously with his wife and was rewarded with a slap to the head.

"So which is it?" Lily asked arching her brow inquisitively but neither her sister nor brother-in-law answered.  She took on a formidable stance crossing her arms over her chest in a no nonsense business matter that if either Angel or Patrick had known Philip could tell she was channeling her father's cold business manner.  "Okay so the two of you are obviously hiding something, what is it?"

"What have we got to hide?" 

"I don't know.  But everyone has secrets I'm not stupid or naïve enough to believe your whole spiel about everything just being a coincidence.  That you just _happen_ to appear at the same playground Nicky was at and _happen_ to stop him from being kidnapped is a little hard to believe.  And if Mom and Dad weren't too busy dealing Alex's kidnapping and your arrival I'm sure they'd notice there is something fishy going on.  I want to know what it is you're hiding and what does it have to do with this Eva person?" Lily demanded fiercely.

Patrick rose from his seat and pulled Angel to the side.  "I think we're going to have to tell her."

Angel adamantly shook her head.  "We can't or else she'll go tell my father and then what leverage will we have."

"I should tell you that in this family, secrets have a habit of coming out, in particular secrets about children." Lily interrupted from across the room, Angel's eyes widen in surprise before she looked beyond Patrick's shoulders at Lily.

"What makes you that I-we have a child?" Angel asked.

Lily shrugged.  "Like I said secrets in this family have a way of coming out and nine times out of ten the secrets relates back a secret child.  For example, my Grandma Nancy's secret was my mom, I was my mother's secret because Daddy didn't know about me until I was seven and you are apparently Daddy's.  I could go on and give you examples from Dad's family but I don't have all day to go through those connections.  Also, the fact that you're married and have been for three years, and not to be too stereotypical but that usually equals teen pregnancy.  And let's not forget the most obvious give away of all, Patrick said her name, if that wasn't a dead giveaway I don't know what is." Lily finished with an arched brow of expectation as she awaited Angel's explanation.

"Well, bravo for your deductive reasoning skills Lily," Angel said and clapped once.  "And for the record, I did not get pregnant until after Patrick and I got married, six months to be exact."  She added as she beckoned Lily over with a wave of her hands as she pulled a gold locket from underneath her ribbed black shirt, the gold chain completely unnoticeable from beneath the shirt. Lily bounded over cautiously as she watched Angel open the locket and then turn it towards her. "This is Genevieve Annabel Cabrea or Eva for short."  In the oval shaped locket on one side was a picture of Patrick wearing a white t-shirt with a baby settled against his chest.  The baby dressed in a yellow sleeper had curly tendrils of dark blonde hair framing her face with a small button nose, rosebud lips and beautiful large grey eyes. 

"She's beautiful," Lily said in awe of the child she learned was her niece.  "Where is she?" Lily handed the locket back to Angel who closed it and tucked it back beneath her shirt.

"About two weeks ago, Angel and I put Eva to bed like we normally did and then went to sleep ourselves.  The next morning we woke up late at around ten o'clock or so.  Eva is a very consistent baby she wakes up every morning at about a quarter to six and that day she didn't." Patrick started as he soothing rubbed Angel's shoulders.

"When I didn't hear a sound on the baby monitor I went to her room to check on her. But, when I got there Eva wasn't anywhere in sight, she was gone.  The only thing left was a note in her crib, which said if you want to see your daughter ever again, go to your father.  At first we just assumed that it was talking about Patrick's father because he's in or _was_ in a dangerous line of business." Angel added. "But, after I called Charlie, that's Patrick's, little brother, he told me that his father hadn't had any contact with anyone from his old business in a couple of years so that only left my father." Angel explained.

"So we were watching you guys, doing some surveillance—,"

"Oh so you're the ones who've been taking pictures of us and plastered them all over the archives?" Lily asked confused.

Patrick frowned.  "What archives?  We haven't been taking pictures of anyone, we just watched you the last couple of days that's all.  We were finally coming to talk to your father when we saw the nanny leave; we thought she was one of you so we followed her to the playground."

"What about Alex, why didn't you get him if you followed them?"  

"We must have been too late because by the time we got there the nanny was already out of it and Nicky was on the playground, we never even saw Alex, that's why we didn't get him.  Once Patrick saw that the nanny was out we knew that they trying to take Nicky so we grabbed him instead." Angel explained to which, Lily nodded slowly as if lost in thought.

"That make sense I guess.  But, why not tell Daddy about your daughter, if he knew she was missing too he could help." 

Angel shook her head, "we can't not yet.  Not until we know for sure what's going on and why my daughter was taken."

"Lily," Nicky slurred with his sleep filled voice as he groggily moved to sit up.

Lily turned when she heard her baby brother speak; she walked over to the child and helped him into a sitting position. "Nicky are you okay?"

Finally, in a sitting position Nicky looked up at his sister as he rubbed his eyes.  "Can I have some water?"  

"Sure, Nicky," Lily rose to get Nicky a glass of water but was beat to it by Angel who filled a glass and handed it to the boy.  After Nicky finished drinking the water from the glass he passed it to Lily who placed it on the small table by her bed.  

"Nicky do you remember me?" Angel asked kneeling beside the bed.  The child who was a miniature version of her father shook his head.  "We met earlier today in the park.  I'm Angel and that's my husband, Patrick," she pointed to him standing behind him.  " I'm your older sister."

Nicky was confused, he remember coming up to her in the park but he didn't remember her being his older sister.  So he looked at Lily for confirmation because Lily always knew everything. "'tis true?"

"Yeah Nicky, it's true.  Angel is our older sister." Lily answered as she brushed his fine blonde hair off his forehead.  

"I wanna see Mommy."  Nicky declared as he looked suspiciously from Lily to his new sister and her husband.

"Sure, Nicky I'll take you down to see her."  Lily rose from the bed and lifted her brother into her arms then she turned to leave the room.  Before she got out the doorway she turned back to her sister and brother-in-law.  "I won't say anything to Daddy about well you know who but I think you should tell him.

"We will just not yet." Angel amended as she moved pass Patrick.  Lily nodded and then continued on her way.  As Angel started to follow her, Patrick grasp her arm pulling her back to him.

"Are you sure we should have told her about Eva?  More to the point how are we going to get her back if the kidnappers took Alex by mistake?"

"Well, you told your brother about her so I told my sister.  In any case, I think we can trust Lily.  Something tells me that she wouldn't tell my father about Eva _unless_ something happened.  Besides, we took a chance when we rescued Nicky before the kidnappers got a chance to take him.  But, I don't even think they know the difference yet.  The question is what happens when the goons who took Alex find out they took the wrong child.  Also, the note we got said that my father had the answers and based on what Lily just told us there is a lot more going on here than just kidnapping.  We need to find out what the real deal is we want to figure out why they took Eva and when that time comes I'll tell my Dad about her.  But, until then …"

"Until then, we play it straight." Patrick finished for her understanding exactly what his wife was trying to do.  "Well let's get back down there to see what's going on."  Releasing his hold on Angel's arm he walked alongside her as they headed in the direct path that Lily had already taken.

*           *           *           *           *

Back in the library … 

Philip, Chloe, Rex, and Mimi were going over the day's events with a fine tooth comb as they relied them to Lucas over the phone.  Philip had called his brother immediately to find out what if anything had happened in Salem and to inform him that Alex had been taken.

"So what you're saying is that the kidnappers got your nanny to take the boys to the playground where they could be picked up but they took the wrong child?"

"Apparently Lucas, Lissette said that she never told them about Alex so they had no way of knowing that there would be two little boys instead of one." Mimi answered.  "But, she's still out of it so I don't how much of that we can take for face value.  

"After they took Alex your daughter arrived and got Nicky and the nanny?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, she and her husband got him and brought them here."  Philip said.

"Man, this is going to sound horrible but it sounds like an inside job to me.  Whoever took Alex thought they were taking Nicky which is a direct strike against you Philip.  And the message you got tells me you've got one hell an enemy out there.  Look, Shawn and I are still going through the archives down here but do you want me to come up there and help you look for Alex?"

"No, I need you and Shawn to keep checking the archives.  The way I figure it whoever took Alex has some kind of vendetta they've been working on this plan for a while to implement these attacks now.  That means something else is going to happen and it going to happen soon so I need to know what was on those missing files, that's got to be the key.   Meanwhile, we're going to work on a viable suspect list and check them off one by one." Staring at Mimi, he vowed, "We will get Alex back."

"Okay then man, you guys keep me updated hourly." Lucas replied and then hung up.

"So who's at the top of the list Philip?" Rex asked.

"Brady Black."

"No, Philip you're wrong Brady didn't do this." Mimi denied shaking her head.

"Mommy," Nicky called as he was released from Lily's arms and ran to his mother.  Chloe bend down and picked him up.

"Oh baby, are you okay?" Chloe asked as she kissed his child's forehead before stroking his soft blonde hair.

"Yeah, Mommy, I'm fine." Nicky said lying her head down on his mother's shoulder.

"Lily and I are going to take Nicky for a snack." Chloe said as she carried her son and turned her daughter out of the room not wanting them to be apart of the current conversation that was going on.  And surprisingly Lily left without a word.

Angel and Patrick arrived on the scene in the library to find Mimi and Philip in the midst of a heated argument.

"Philip you just can't let it go can you?"

"I could but then Mimi I'd be lying.  He's as guilty as he always has been."

"But, you don't know that Philip.  He would not and could not attempt to take a child, let alone your son–,"

"And _you_ don't know that, Meems." Philip interrupted.

"You're right, I don't.  But, I know Brady and while he may be many things stupid isn't one of them.  He would know the difference between my son and yours.  For crying out loud, do you honestly think he wouldn't know the difference between a blonde little boy and a brunette." Mimi added vehemently as she angrily slammed her hand down on the desk.

"What's going on here?" Angel asked stepping into the room with Patrick at her side.

"It seems my esteemed cousin-in-law here believes that his nephew is responsible for Nicky's attempted kidnapping and Alex being taken by mistake."  Rex explained wryly as he moved to comfort Mimi.

"And your nephew would be …?" Angel asked trying to get an idea of who would have been responsible for her daughter.

"Brady Black, he's my half-sister's son, Chloe's ex-fiancé, as well as the once golden boy of Salem up until seven years ago."

"So what happened?" Patrick asked of his father-in-law as both he and Angel to the side.

"Seven years ago after my father died I discovered that he was responsible for somebody laundering money from Titan and I had him ousted from my company and Phoenix Enterprises."

"And what this is some sort of revenge against you kicking him out of the company?  Why wait seven years and why involve us?" Patrick asked unintentionally out loud. Angel froze hoping no one had caught his slip up.

"Brady's not the kind of guy do anything without a plan, he's smart and manipulative that's why it took five years before his plan was caught.  He's a planner and he could have been setting this up for months, years even." Philip continued on having missed Patrick's slip of tongue.

"I don't care what you say Philip, I know Brady did not do this and I know it better than anyone." Mimi declared shrugging off Rex's calming touch to turn away from him.

"How, Mimi? Give me one good reason to how you know Brady wouldn't take Nicky?  One good reason." Philip demanded on him.

Seconds went by before Mimi turned back to face Philip her green eyes brimming with defiance.  "Brady would never take a child because he already has a son." 

"What?" Philip said straightening into his tall form, eyes wide with his brows arched questioningly.

Mimi held her head up high.  "Brady and I have a son, Alex is our son.  If Brady ever wanted to see Alex all he'd have to do is ask and he knows that.  He wouldn't bother going through the trouble of trying to kidnap your son because he already has one.  And he would damn well know the difference between your son and his."

TBC ….

Please tell me what you think.


	8. 8

**Author's Note**: Hey guys here's the latest chapter of SR I hope you enjoy it. Also, I have Chapter Nine already completed and waiting to be edited. I would like get it out to you on Wednesday but, I am going out of town on Wednesday afternoon so I don't know if I'll be able to get it up by then. If not, I will just post it when I return on Sunday. Fear not the next chapter will be either a week from today or Wednesday.

**Chapter Eight**

Mimi sat in the back seat of the black town car watching the landscape of the Florida sky as she was driven by it. She was on her way to see Brady and inform him that their son had been taken. The decision to tell him face to face had been made right after she revealed Alex's true paternity to Philip …

_"I don't care what you say Philip, I know Brady did not do this and I know it better than anyone." Mimi declared shrugging off Rex's calming touch to turn away from him._

_"How, Mimi? Give me one solid good reason to how you know Brady wouldn't take Nicky? One, good reason." Philip demanded on him._

_Seconds went by before Mimi turned back to face Philip her green eyes brimming with defiance. "Brady would never take a child because he already has a son." _

_"What?" Philip said straightening into his tall form, eyes wide with his brows arched questioningly._

_Mimi held her head up high. "Brady and I have a son, Alex is our son. If Brady ever wanted to see Alex all he'd have to do is ask and he knows that. He wouldn't bother going through the trouble of trying to kidnap your son because he already has one. And he would damn well know the difference between your son and his."_

_Philip was shocked to say the least, of all the things Mimi could tell him, Alex being Brady's son was something he'd never suspected. It simply couldn't be true. "What-what did you say?"_

_Rex moved swiftly to stand behind his wife in an offer of support, even if it seemed she didn't really need it at all. "Alex isn't my biological son. He's Brady's child."_

_"I heard that I just can't believe it, that Brady could be his father. Why, why didn't you tell me?" Philip asked his head reeling that his oldest friend and godmother to both of his children could keep this secret. _

_"Because frankly it wasn't any of your business, Philip.__ That's why I never told you. What happened between Brady and I had nothing to do with you. Just as my decision to continue my relationship with Brady after he left wasn't your business. I admit that maybe our relationship wasn't supposed to last as long, but it did and we-I have Alex because of it."_

_Philip shoved his hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't believe I never realized how much he resembled John. I always knew he reminded me of someone I just couldn't put my finger on it. He has your eyes but his facial features, his hair … they are all Black traits." Glancing up at Mimi and Rex, he tilted his head to the side questioningly. "You're sure Brady wouldn't do this?"_

_"I'm absolutely positive besides that he wouldn't he's never shown any interest in doing so before. And even if he did he would never take Alex without seeing me first." Rex soothingly rubbed his wife's arms. "Philip, you and I both know that Brady can do some pretty despicable things but I'd imagine that a kidnapping attempt on your son is nowhere on his agenda. Every since he left __Salem__ he's shown no interest in anything having to do with you._

_Philip sighed. "Then, this leaves us exactly where were before without any idea of who is took him and why."_

_Patrick observed the on-going conversation between his father-in-law and Mimi with a valiant interest. He glanced down at his wife to see her cross her arms as she stared at her father pensively. He figured she was trying to get an idea of how to get them back to thinking of who was responsible for the kidnappings so they could then figure out why their daughter was taken._

_"Okay so what are you going to do now that you've out ruled your nephew?"_

_"We're going to continue running through checks on all of our, rather my known enemies and cross reference that list with people who worked at Titan. Hopefully, Lucas and Shawn will be able to give us a name so we know who originally stole the files and what was in them. But, until then I suggest we move our headquarters to a safer location since the mansion has been compromised. So Exiel?" He asked to Rex who nodded in response._

_"What's Exiel?" Patrick questioned._

_"Exiel is Chloe and my grandfather's home/island. It's completely secure and only reachable by boat or helicopter. No one will be able to breach the security system." _

_"Okay so while guys there Patrick and I will stay here."_

_"No, I want you guys with me." Philip said clearly not giving his daughter a chance to say no. "Everyone will be safer on the island for the time being."_

_"But, what about waiting for the kidnapper to call? You don't want to miss that; it could be the key to finding Alex." _

_"I'll have all the calls rerouted to the island; the kidnapper won't know the difference. So you'll come?" Philip asked of his daughter not at all understanding why she seemed to be hesitate about staying on Exiel._

_"Yes, of course we'll come. But, Patrick and I need to go to our apartment to … pack a bag." Angel answered. "How soon are you planning on leaving?"_

_"A couple of hours at the most, we've got to get a few things in order first so you have time to go to your apartment."_

_Angel nodded. "We'll be ready then."_

_"Good, I need to make some arrangements and inform Chloe that what we're doing so you guys can come with me. Rex call—,"_

_"I got it Philip you go ahead and take care of your family." Rex said nodding to Philip as the blonde man left the room with his daughter and son-in-law at his heels. He turned to the desk to pick up the phone but Mimi stopped him, grabbing his wrist._

_"Rex, I need you to go to Eixel without me, I have somewhere I need to go first."_

_"You're going to see Brady aren't you?"_

_"Yes, I have to. Alex is his son too," she paused. "I know that Alex is your son in every way there is, he loves you so much but at the same time Brady is his biological father and he deserves to know what happened. Not only that, I think he might be able to help us find Alex and I can't ignore that."_

_Dropping the phone back on the hook, Rex took Mimi in his arms. "You don't have to explain anything to me. I know why you're doing this. So you go ahead and see Brady. I'll be waiting for you on the island." He pressed a kiss to her lips as Mimi raised her arms to circle his waist, hugging him tightly._

_Sighing, she pulled back to stared intently into his warm brown eyes. "I love you Rex and thank you for trusting me."_

_"You don't have to. You better go pack a bag if you want to see Brady."_

_"I know." Mimi dropped her arms from around his waist as she backed away from him to leave the room. _

"Ms. Lockhart, we've arrived." The driver of the Lincoln Town Car said pulling Mimi away from her private thoughts back to the present.

"Thank you Jonathan." The driver had got out of the car and went to pull open her door. "I don't know how long I'll be so I'll just call you when I'm ready to go."

"Yes, ma'am, I'll just be in the area waiting for your call." The young man said as he got back into the car and pulled off.

Mimi waited until the car completely left the driveway before she slipped on her sunglasses and walked around the one story beachfront property in the back of the house. Brady wasn't in, that she knew because she'd called earlier and got his machine. However, having stayed with Brady before she knew his morning routine like the back of her hand and she very much doubted that it had changed much, most likely he was out for his morning jog on the beach. Passing by the gate of the sandy backyard she slipped off her heeled sandals carrying them by the thin straps as she began her trek on the beach.

She had only been walking for less than ten minutes when she saw him running down the beach. He still looked the same from the last time she'd seen him nearly four years ago. The only difference was his once shorten business style crew cut was now fairly long as it ruffled in the wind as he ran. He wore a pair of black jogging shorts riding low on his hips, with a white sleeveless t-shirt drenched with sweat from his jog, His long legs ate up the distance between them in no time as Brady finally saw her, his jog slowed down to a walk as he stopped before her in wonderment.

"Mimi, what are you doing here?" He asked foregoing all niceties to get right to the point.

"Brady, can we talk somewhere?" She pulled off her sunglass. "It's important."

"Well since you came all this way to see me I assumed as much. We can talk back at the house." He nodded to the direction of his property.

He'd lead the way back to the house in silence; not really having anything to say as he pondered what could possibly be the reason for this visit to his humble domain by his ex. He hadn't seen her since the day she came to tell him she was pregnant with his child and in love with another man. Since that day four years ago, he hadn't laid eyes on her at all. Instead, they'd kept in touch through a series of phone calls, emails and letters. And every now and then he'd get the occasional picture of his son in mail. But, other than the fact that another man was raising his son, he'd believed they'd ended their relationship rather amicably.

Opening the gate to his yard he held it open for Mimi as she slipped through and was assailed by the scent of her perfume that took him back. Shaking his head he followed her through the gate and walked over to his patio table where he'd left a small towel. He picked it up and wiped the sweat from his brow before going to open the sliding door that lead to his kitchen. Draping the towel over his shoulder he headed to the refrigerator where he took out a bottle of water. He opened the bottle and downed three-fourths of it in a matter of seconds. "So you wanted to talk," he started.

"Yes, did you by any chance get my messages?"

"The ones you left a couple days ago?" She nodded. "I got them."

"But, you weren't going to call me back, right?"

"Look, Meems if you're here because I didn't return a few messages, I was planning on getting back to you. I just didn't see the urgency in the matter since I don't have anything to do with Titan or Phoenix Enterprises. Or don't you remember that." He placed the now empty bottle on the counter.

Mimi sighed, "Of course I remember that it's just that if you had answered my calls I wouldn't have to explain so much what's going to be difficult for me to tell you anyway."

"Tell me what?" He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter.

Nervously, Mimi plucked a strand of hair out of her face before answering him. "About a week ago Philip was called down to Titan by Lucas because there was a breach in the database and the archives at the mausoleum."

"How did the person get into the database, I thought there were security walls to protect a hacker from doing that?"

"There are but the person had a code to get into it, your old codes to be specific."

"My codes?"

"Yes, your codes and they hacked into the security system as well to breach the archives. When Philip finally got to the archives to see what was missing he found surveillance photos of everyone in the family plastered all over the walls. And close-ups of Chloe, their children, Alex, and I with a message that implied something was going to happen to us."

"What does any of this have to do with me? Don't take this the wrong way but it sounds to me like Uncle Phil needs to get a better a security system and at the least hire some bodyguards, other that it has nothing to do with me."

"Don't you even care about your son, Brady?" She paused to reign in her temper before moving on. "Look Brady, you act like an uncaring shit all you want but remember that I know you better than anyone. I know how hurt you were when Chloe decided to cut you out of her life completely. The point is that the photos are just the tip of the iceberg buddy. It's what happened afterward when Philip and Rex returned to New York that's the problem."

"So what happened?"

"When they got back they naturally told Chloe and I what had happened."

"Naturally," he replied sarcastically.

Snorting indignantly, she continued on as if he had said nothing. "We had security booted up. We didn't think to tell Lily or the boys because we didn't want to worry them unnecessarily. The next day we were sorting through a list of viable suspects through the employee databases at Titan and Phoenix Enterprises when Lissette took the boys for their playgroup. Chloe and I didn't know that earlier that day the playgroup had been cancelled because a couple of the children had got the chicken pox. So she took the boys and left the mansion with our permission."

"At the risk of repeating myself again, so what."

"So when Chloe I and finally got back with Philip and Rex they told us that the playgroup had been cancelled and Lissette knew it. She wasn't supposed to be taking the boys out of the house but she did. She'd already been gone at least an hour by the time we pieced together that she had taken them when a phone call came in telling us that they had kidnapped Nicky and not to contact the police or FBI or else they would kill him."

Brady perked up at this information uneasily as a sneaking feeling creep up his neck. "What about Alex?"

"About twenty or so minutes after the call Philip's daughter and her husband arrived at the house with Nicky and Lissette in tote. Whoever, the kidnapper was they made a mistake and took the wrong child. They apparently hadn't counted on Lissette bring two little boys instead of one."

"What are you saying Mimi?"

"Alex was taken; they took our son, Brady."

He froze, sucking in a breath in shock. His son had been taken … no kidnapped all in a plot to get back at Philip. It wasn't fair there was no justice in the world. It wasn't fair that the woman who once claimed to love him seven years ago had left him for his uncle. It wasn't fair that the second child he had with Mimi was taken from him once again all because of Philip. Looking back at Mimi he saw that her eyes were filled with tears, as she awaited his response to her news. Saying nothing he reached out with his hand and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly against his chest.

Mimi finally allowed her emotions to control as she sobbed heartwrenchingly for her missing son. From the very moment she'd heard that someone had taken him she had wanted to do nothing more than cry until he was back in her arms. But, she'd known that in order to find her son she needed to be in complete control of her emotions not letting anything deter her from finding Alex.

As she sobbed Brady lifted her into his arms and carried her over to his couch in the living room where he sat her down by him her head still buried in his chest. He rubbed her back soothingly as her sobs were quieting; he pulled her away from his embrace slightly so he could cup her face. "Mimi, we will find our son and get him back. I promise you I won't let anything happen to him." Caressing her cheek softly he pushed back her hair so that it was out of her face. Peering into her moist but drying green eyes, he sucked a breath as he couldn't help himself; he leaned down pressing his lips against hers in a comforting kiss. He tasted the salt of her tears as he licked another tear drop that slid down her cheek to her upper lip. Her mouth opened under his like a moth to a flame and within mere seconds that soft comforting kiss had become passionate as Mimi slid her hands up around Brady's neck to his face as she slid her tongue pass his lips.

With a groan, Brady pulled away, "Mimi I'm sorry I didn't mean to —,"

She put her hand over his lips, silencing him. "No Brady don't apologize just please don't stop." She pulled him back down to her as she began to trail moist kissed from his mouth down his neck tasting the sweat and the essence of Brady. He gripped her shoulders as if about to push her away again and she stopped. "No, don't push me away … I need to feel something, anything." She begged and began her ministrations again pressing kisses down his neck.

Brady knew it was wrong; he should just stop this and push her away for a multitude of reasons. But, he couldn't stand to see her in pain so he didn't push her away. Groaning he cupped her face between his palms and kissed her passionately. He eased her down on the sofa his hands moving to unbutton her shirt as hers moved to pull his t-shirt over his head …

The bathroom door shut as Brady pulled on a clean t-shirt over his black jeans. Figuring that Mimi would probably want some privacy after she came out the bathroom he headed to the kitchen to get himself something to drink. Thinking back on the past couple of hours he admitted to himself that having sex with Mimi was probably a mistake. But, he'd made a lot of mistakes in his lifetime with Chloe, his grandfather, and even his father's company. The only thing he had ever done right was to give his son a father to be proud of even if that meant he could never have anything to do with his son.

He wondered now, if he'd made the right the decision in allowing Mimi's husband to raise his child. Did he make the right choice four years ago when Mimi had come to tell him that she was pregnant? Should he have let her go and take his son to be raised by another man? And if he'd made a mistake could he fix it now and get a chance to be a father to his son and something more to the child's mother.

"Brady," he turned to see Mimi also fully dressed in the same clothes she'd been in when she arrived. Her purse strap was twisted around her fingers as she stood silently in the doorway around the kitchen. "I — thank you for you know."

"Mimi I'm so-," Brady started out but Mimi shook her head stopping him.

"Don't apologize. I needed to be comforted and you were there for me. Look, I um … I called my car- I'm going to the airport to meet up with Rex and Philip at Eixel. We're going to wait for the call from the kidnapper there and I wanted to know, will you come with me?"

Brady was startled he hadn't expected her to ask him to come with her, even though he had been thinking of going anyway. "Are you sure? Somehow, I doubt Philip will be expecting me."

"Well you know what it doesn't matter what he wants. Our son has been taken and I want you there for me." Mimi answered because for once she was making the decision based upon what was best for her. "Will you please come with me?"

"Yeah just let me get some stuff together and we'll be off."

Mimi nodded relieved that she wasn't going to be alone and that she would have Brady, the father of her child with her. She only hoped this decision to bring him wouldn't come back to haunt her.

* * *

Philip walked purposefully into the living room of Stefano Dimera's large expansive home meet to his cousin and grandfather-in-law.

"Mimi called to check in; she and Brady are just now leaving Florida. They should be here in a little bit."

"Brady Black, a Black is on his way here, in my home? I will not have that man in my home."

"Grandfather," Rex started.

"Don't you _grandfather _me Recando how you let your wife go to that man I'll never know. The Blacks are well-known for stealing other men's women. Just ask Philip." The gruffly accented voiced said from the wizen old man in the motorized wheelchair."

"Stefano you forget that Brady _is _Alex's father and he's got every right to be involved in finding his child. Even I won't deny him that. You will treat him with the utmost respect as he is a guest in your house."

"I will do no such thing." Stefano drove his wheelchair out of the room without another word.

"Grandfather," Rex called walking out after his grandfather as Chloe entered to living room.

"Don't you think you could have waited a little longer to tell him about Brady?"

"We could have but what difference would it really have made. He was going to find out and have a fit either way when Mimi arrived with Brady. It's better that he knows now." Philip answered his wife who was not at all happy to hear what he had to say. But, honestly she couldn't have expected Stefano to take the news well considering his obvious hatred for any and all things Black. "Where are Angel and Patrick?"

"In bed sleeping I'd imagine. They were jet lagged from the trip and tomorrow is going to be a long day after all. Nicky and Lily are sleep as well. We should probably get some sleep. Are you coming to bed?" Philip nodded as he walked over her placing his hand on her lower back as he guided her out of the room together so they could sleep.

* * *

**La ****Plantation**** de Maison de dragon Dragon House ****Plantation**

**New Orleans, ****Louisiana**

**8 P. M.**

An elegant couple in their mid-forties entered their two story home on the center of the Dragon House Plantation. The man with rich wavy black hair and twinkling chocolate eyes kept his hand on the woman's back as he dropped their bags beside the stairwell.

"You know, the house is usually never this silent when we return home." The grey-eyed woman with light brown hair that hung to the middle of her back said as she scanned the room for any sign of a disturbance walking the short distance to the living room.

"You're right; it is quiet, too quiet. Dad, Charlie." The man called out for his father and son but there was no answer. He looked at the woman who nodded as she swiftly moved to a decorative lamp on an entable and tapped the side of it. Out of the lamp came an open flap with a silver 9mm Beretta gun and a clip of bullets. She picked up the gun and put the clip in it with a soft click. She took off the safety while the man had reached down and pulled an identical gun from his ankle holster.

"You take the upstairs, I'll take down here." The woman ordered softly, as she assumed the position holding her gun prompted in front of her, as she slowly searched the downstairs part of the house.

The woman had checked the entire circumference of the down stairs area before finally arriving in the kitchen which would lead to the basement, the last place left to check when she heard a bang coming from the pantry. Turning swiftly she waited quietly to ensure she had heard the sound coming from the pantry for sure. When she heard it again she knew her initial thought had been correct the sound was coming from the pantry. Whoever was in there, she knew they'd be very happy to see her as the pantry had been built as fail safe, it automatically locked once the door closed and could only be opened from the outside. She slipped the gun in back of her pants and proceeded to kick the door with such a force that it slammed open.

The door had split where her foot had made contact and she went in after it her gun raised. But, after seeing who was there she slid it back where it had been. Sitting on a kitchen chair with his arms and legs bound to it and scotch tape over his mouth was her father-in-law Jacob. The sliver haired old man's eyes widen in surprise and relief when he saw that it was his daughter-in-law that had come to his rescue. "Xavier and I go away for a couple days Jacob and you get locked in the pantry. I gotta say it really doesn't say much for your babysitting skills." She pulled off the tape.

"Uhh, Elena you have to,"

"Lena, I couldn't find either Dad or Charlie upstairs but everything looks alright." The man named Xavier paused in doorway of the pantry his brows rose in surprise as he saw his father tied to a chair. "Dad, please tell me you aren't playing sex games with Ms. Shaw again while you're supposed to be watching Charlie.

Elena rose as she cut the last of the ropes off of her father-in-law. "Yes, where is Charlie anyway."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you Elena, Charlie was kidnapped almost three days ago."

"Why didn't you call us?"

"Xavier, son I've been bound to this chair for the last three days. If I could have notified you sooner don't you think I would have."

Elena and Xavier wasted no time in storming out of the pantry without another word to Jacob. Jacob took the time to ease himself out of the chair stretching his tired legs as he went and then after a few moments went in search of his son.

"Xavier, I got it come here." Elena called out by the answering machine as she waited for her husband to arrive with a small computer in hand.

"Tigress, I've got your little cub, Charlie. And if you want him back in one piece I suggest you take heed and stay out of exile or we'll send this sweet little cubby back in pieces. Ta-Ta for now."

"Stay out of exile what does that mean?"

"Exile, exile," Xavier repeated softly to himself as he worked through the message in his head. "I got it." Glancing down he punched a keys on the computer. "There is an island called Eixel that is home to one Stefano Dimera, if you switch the letters around it spells the word exile."

"Well what on earth does Dimera want with us? We've been out of the business for years."

"I don't know but I say we pay him a personal visit and find out what's going on."

"I like the way your mind works X. Shall I pack the usual goodies?"

Xavier nodded. "Of course and I'll chart our flight plan." Elena and Xavier separated again taking off into two separate directions. He sat down on the corner of a desk and was inputting coordinates in the computer when Jacob came forward.

"What are you going to do Xavier?"

"I'm going to get my son back what else. Someone clearly doesn't know who they are messing with if they believed that Lena and I would come into the jungle and start a fire. _We_ don't operate that way and _we _will make them pay."

"Do you need me to do anything?"

"No just stay here and man the phones if someone calls I want to know all the specifics, especially if the kidnappers try to make contact."

"Of course, but do be careful X and try not to kill anyone."

"I won't be I can't promise you that Lena won't. You know how blood thirsty she can get but I will try to contain my cat."

"Leoné, let's get a move on," a voice called out urgently from elsewhere in the house.

"See, she's already getting cagey." Xavier closed the thin computer and slid it into a black bag on the desk before swiftly leaving the room in hope to not give his wife any reason to take her anger out on him. It was best that she save it for Dimera.

Please tell me what you think your feedback is greatly appreciated!


	9. 9

**Author's Note**: Hey guys here is the latest chapter after this I'm going to go back to writing SOTH for a while just to get me back on target. Once I do I plan to go back to alternating between the two stories. So this will be the last chapter for a while, unless you'd like to see chapter 10 and then I go back to SOTH. So just let me know what you prefer.

**Chapter Nine**

A slim woman walked the length of the room before her in black knee length boots that made her eye level with the two men dressed in all black suits waiting for her to speak. Shaking her head, she stopped, her toffee-colored eyes shrewdly examining the men built like linebackers.

"I gave you one job to pick up Philip Kiriakis' son and take care of the nanny. I practically handed his son to you on a silver platter, and what did you do?"

"But Boss, the nanny brought two kids instead of one." The brawnier of the two interrupted but stopped when the Boss Lady motioned for him to stop.

"I don't want to hear your excuses about why you couldn't get the job done. I not only gave you a picture of the boy but for goodness sake he is a blonde. The child you brought me is a brunette. It shouldn't have mattered if that nanny brought ten different children — you know what your job was," she hissed. "I wanted Tristan Nikos Kiriakis, a blonde, blue-eyed five year old. What I have is Alexander Dimera a black green-eyed moppet. Kidnapping doesn't require much intelligence which is why it was the perfect job for the two of you."

She sighed, "Against my better judgment I'm going to give you another chance because your previous jobs – getting the Tigress' child and the Cabrea baby – were done without error."

Both men breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to leave as they made it to the doorway they were called back. "Oh and gentlemen, screw up again and I'll kill you myself." She hissed eyes flaring as she dismissed them. "Good day." Without another word both men left.

"Darling, I do believe you've handled that with a rather smashing enthusiasm and the death threat was a nice touch." The tall well-muscled blonde said as he rose to his full 6 foot 5" length.

"Well I do try." Clasping her hands together the woman headed out of the room with the man in back of her. "Come along we have to pay a visit to our little guest. It seems he's been sneaking out of his room to see his niece."

"What are you planning to do dearest?"

"You'll see my love." She stopped outside of a guarded room. "Let me see the boy. And go get Alex while I'm here." The guard nodded, moving out of the way to allow the Boss Lady to enter and then taking off to do her biding. Upon entering the room, she crossed her arms and patiently waiting to be acknowledged by the child on the bed. After a few minutes she spoke, "I do hope I'm not bothering you."

The fair blonde head of the child glanced up once before going back to read his book, turning another page as if totally not affected by her presence at all. "No, you aren't. Is there something I can do for you?"

"You could not sneak out of this room again."

He put his book to the side and sat up. "But, what's the fun in that? I'd think you'd be thanking me for giving your bumbling guards something to do … a daily workout if you will. They don't exercise much."

"While that may be true, Charlie, may I call you Charlie?" He nodded. "We can't have a _guest_ running all over this lovely compound. So I'll see to that all of your vents are boarded."

"Okay, board the vents." The woman smiled glad to have that cleared up mentally patting herself on the back for handling the child. She started to leave the room. "Of course, the only problem is that I haven't been getting out through the vents."

She paused at the doorway, turning around. "What!"

"I. Haven't. Been. Getting. Out. Through. The. Vents." Charlie pronounced slowly.

Raising her hands into a fist aggressively she demanded, "Then how have you been getting out?"

Charlie grinned mischievously, his blue-grey eyes twinkling. "That's for me to know and you to figure out. I'm not about to make it easy for you … given that you've kidnapped me and all."

"Miss Dona— I mean Boss Lady I got the child." The guard said carrying a sleeping Alex.

"Put him on the bed." Boss Lady directed, moving out of the way. After Alex was placed on the twin bed parallel to Charlie's the guard went to stand outside the room again at his post. "Let me introduce you to your roommate Charlie, this is Alexander or Xander as I was told he likes to be called. He'll be keeping you company until my last _guest_ arrives. Now play nicely my dear little poppet." She ruffled Charlie's hair and left swiftly walking to the doorway.

"When my mom and Dad get here you'll be sorry." Charlie declared combing through his ruffled curls with his fingers.

"Somehow, I doubt that little lion. If you don't sneak out tomorrow I may let you see your niece so keep that in mind Charles." Then the clicking of her shoes could be heard as the boss lady walked down the hallway closing the door. Leaving Charlie sitting on the bed, book in hand watching Alex sleep.

"I'll find a way to get home if it's the last thing I do." He vowed before going about making plans for himself to sneak out yet again that night to see his niece.

* * *

Mimi and Brady were currently headed to the island only an hour away. They were expected to arrive earlier but due to some bad weather in London they were delayed several hours and unable to leave any earlier. With an exception of a few words exchanged between them on their long flights, not a word had of anything of substance had been shared between the two of them. It would seem that they were both caught up in their own thoughts.

Brady glanced out of the window of the plane to gaze at the bright sunless sky, with a subdued sense of expectation. He honestly didn't know how to feel about seeing Philip and Chloe again after seven long years. Their last get together hadn't been at all pleasant. But, even more nerve racking than that was the fact he was going to finally meet the man who had been raising his son, Mimi's husband. It was going to be a very interesting day, to say the least.

"Brady," Mimi called upon reentering the cabin.

He moved his gaze over to her.

"The Captain said we should be arriving within the hour."

He nodded, "Okay."

Instead of taking the seat across where she had sat the entire trip before, she moved next to him, her hands clasped together tightly in her lap. "Brady," she started unconsciously twisting her wedding ring around on her finger. "About yesterday,"

"It was a moment of weakness on both our parts. You were hurting and I … I comforted you. If you're concerned about me saying anything to Rex, don't be. As far as I'm concerned it didn't happen." Not waiting to see her response he went back to looking out of the window.

"Oh, thank you for that. But, I wasn't actually thinking along those lines. I mean I was but I wasn't thinking straight and I'm sure you weren't either. What happened between was totally unexpected, but I can't ignore and pretend it didn't happen."

"Spit it out, Mimi," Brady directed as he could that she was skirting around the issue.

"We didn't use any protection."

Brady snapped around to stare at her. "Aren't you on the pill or something?"

"No, I'm not. Rex and I were going to try to have another baby so I haven't been on the pill in weeks."

"So wait a minute are you telling me there's a chance you could have gotten pregnant last night."

"I-well a very small chance, yes. If I do get pregnant the child could either be yours or Rex's."

His eyes went wide in surprise by her pronouncement, as he snorted and then erupted into a caustic laugh rising from his seat to walk away from Mimi. As swiftly as he got up he returned to lean over Mimi as he barricaded her in the plush leather seat with a barely contained anger. "Tell me something Mimi, did you plan this? Did you plan to sleep with me knowing that you might get pregnant with another child of mine? Thinking that I would allow you to take him from me again?"

She gasped. "No, that is not true, Brady and you know it." She pushed him away and rose out of the chair to confront him. "You said it yourself that what last night was an accident. When I came to see you, the only thing on my mind was telling you that Alex had been kidnapped." She shoved her hand through her auburn locks, pushing them off of her face. "Things got out of hand but I was _not_ trying to get pregnant, it was the furthest thing from my mind."

"Okay, I'll give you that, so maybe you weren't _trying_ to get pregnant, and that doesn't change the fact that you may now be pregnant with my child, again."

"Look I'm sure that I'm not pregnant Brady. After all it was only once."

"Famous last words of a teen parent." He scoffed crossing his arms.

She glared at him. "You know what, if it happens and that's a big if. Why don't we just talk about then? We should be focusing on getting our son back, agreed?"

"Agreed." He replied. "I should warn you Mimi, that once we find Alex, I intend to claim him as my own."

"What? You can't do that." She protested finding this entire discussion coming out of nowhere.

"Since I never signed by rights away to Alex, legally and I'm listed as his father on his birth certificate — I can." He said as he returned to his seat.

"What about Rex? Did you just forget that Alex believes Rex is his daddy?"

"No, I didn't forget. It's never too late for him to learn who his real father is. In fact, I'd say all things considered this is probably the best for him."

"All things considered, Rex is the only father Alex knows, he has been there for him from day one. And while he may not biologically be his father he is the only one Alex knows—,"

"And whose fault is that?" Brady interrupted. "You came to me and asked me to let Rex be his father."

"Only after you decided that you wanted nothing to do with us from the day I told I was pregnant."

"That's not true, I've always loved y-my son. I've always wanted him."

"Then, why did you push us away? Why did you let me pursue my relationship with Rex, huh tell me why did you let me marry him? If you loved him so much why did you let another man raise him?"

"Because, my son deserved to have a father that he could be proud of. And you deserved someone who could be with you freely … someone who could love you freely." Brady added quietly staring in Mimi's green eyes intently.

"If we deserved that then what's changed now? You've never seen our son Brady, not since the day he was born. Not once in the last three years have you even asked to see him, you send me a check every month to care for him but you won't see him. I've given you a lot of opportunities to be his father and not once have you taken it. So why now?"

"You wanted Rex to be his father—,"

"No, Brady I wanted Alex to have a father, I wanted _you_ to be his father, you're the one who chose not to. Only after you'd made your decision did I ask you to let Rex be his father. You walked away from me; I didn't walk away from you Brady."

"Ms. Lockhart, Mr. Black we're experiencing a bit of turbulence so please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts." The mellow voice of the Captain interrupted.

Neither Brady nor Mimi said another word as she quietly took her seat across the isle from him, leaving him to think about what she had said.

* * *

**On Eixel** … 

Angel stood looking of the window from the bedroom she shared with Patrick. She gazed at the landscape of the island with her gold locket in the palm of her hand thinking about her daughter, little Eva. It had been two weeks, fourteen days since Genevieve, Eva, had been taken from her. It was on days just like this one that she missed her daughter most. She missed seeing Eva smile at with those large grey eyes that twinkled just when she saw her mother. She missed holding her baby girl, talking to her, telling her all of the things she had planned to do that day. She missed cuddling with her and Patrick, inhaling her daughter's sweet scent. She missed her daughter plainly she missed her Eva.

A pair of arms snaked around Angel's waist pulling her firmly against her husband's chest. She let the locket fall to hang around her neck as placed her hands over his, leaning back against him.

"You were thinking about Eva again weren't you?" He asked as peering down at his wife from within the frame of his arms.

"I miss her Patrick. I miss everything about her; I miss hearing her babble at me in the morning to the way she sounds when she's sleeping at night. I miss her so much."

He kissed her head. "I know you do and so do I. I want her back with us as soon as possible. But, we just have to be patient for a little while longer. Unless you're thinking about telling your father the entire truth now."

Angel turned within the frame of her arms, hesitantly biting her lip. "Would that be so bad, to tell my father the truth?" She watched his eyes closely to see how he really felt they flickered lightly. Propping her hands on his chest she pushing him away, "I wasn't suggesting we tell him yet Patrick. I just want to know how you would feel about me telling him."

He dropped his arms from around her. "You want to know how I feel."

"Yes, the truth."

"Okay, the truth, I want to know why it would be okay to tell your father the truth when my own father has to be kept in the dark." Seeing Angel's attempt at being nonchalant made a light bulb go on his head. "Wait a minute; this isn't about just telling your father is it? You just want to tell him so that you can tell my father and Elena, too." When she said nothing to disprove what he said he knew he'd been on the right track, as he backed away from her. "No, absolutely not."

"Patrick, Patrick please, I thinking about what would be the best way to find Eva. I know that we agreed not you tell your father and my aunt about Eva – at my request. And I know that we agreed not to involve them in this mess unless it was completely necessary. But, don't you think we've waited long enough. My father, I know is doing everything in his power to help us find Eva, but he doesn't have the connections that they do."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're the one who wanted to keep Eva a secret in the first place. I told you holding a grudge for so long against your aunt was going to eventually come back to haunt you."

"That's not fair Patrick. You know why I didn't want to tell her and you agreed with me. For goodness sake she wouldn't even come to our wedding, she's the only family I had besides my father, and she wouldn't come even if she didn't agree with our decision. She's the one who couldn't put aside her issues to be there for me. And that hurt Patrick, it hurt so much." Angel said her voice falling to a whisper.

Patrick walked back to her lightly grasping her shoulders. "I know it did Angel. And I know how much you wanted her to be there for our wedding. But, not telling her or my father about Eva was wrong. They deserved to know because they are her grandparents and they would love her so much."

"I know and that's why I want to fix that mistake now, so that they can get a chance to meet her while she's still young. I'll make them understand that the choice to keep her a secret was mine, not yours."

He stared down at his wife for a moment before sighing and sliding her hands from her shoulders to rest on the small of her back as he hugged her within the frame of his arms. "They won't buy that for a minute you know. They know I'm just as stubborn as you are. When we decided to keep it from them it was a joint decision so we'll take the heat together. She's our daughter, yours and mine, and it's just as much my fault for keeping her a secret as it is yours." He pulled back slightly tilting her head up, "The last email I got from Charlie said that Dad and Elena were going to judge a dance event in L.A. But, they were supposed to return yesterday so we can call them now."

"I want to tell Dad first though. I need to come clean with him, first." Angel replied cupping Patrick's jaw between her palms.

Sighing he pulled her hands away and hugged her against him again. "Fine we'll tell him before we call Elena and my Dad." He pulled back, this time releasing her from the frame of his arms. "But, first we need to shower and change."

Scrunching her nose, she added, "Especially since we fell asleep in the clothes we arrived in." She moved around the room to pick up the suitcase with their clothes in it. Putting the case on the bed she unzipped it. "You go ahead and shower first; I need to go ask Lily where my father is. Last night, she mentioned something about him and Chloe going to get Mimi and that guy Brady, today." Patrick moved to sit down on the bed next to the case of clothes watching as Angel sorted through the clothing they'd packed.

"Do you like her? You never said before?"

"Chloe, you mean?" Patrick nodded as she took a shirt and blue jeans out of the case, pausing in her wake. "She seems nice enough. From what I know of her, in the past two days, I guess you could say I like her."

"But …" he prodded.

"But, she's not exactly what I expected. Which, all things considered is actually a good thing …" She sat down on the bed next to Patrick, leaning against his chest and he held himself upright by his hands positioned in back of him. "What did you think of her and my father?"

"Honestly, I liked her. She seems like the kind of person who could handle herself very well in any situation. And given her history being related to Stefano Dimera and going against Victor Kiriakis back in the day, she's clearly no pushover. Plus, she's not too bad on the eyes for an older woman." Angel swatted his shoulder playfully.

"What about my father? What's your feeling on him?"

"Your Dad is a tough one to read. But, I have to say I'm glad that you weren't living with him before we got married."

"Why?" She asked frowning.

"Because he never would have let me anywhere near you, let alone marry you at 18. Ouch hey," he exclaimed as she pinched him.

"I'm serious, Patrick. What did you think of him?"

Sliding down so that he was lying on the bed with Angel sitting above him to the side. "He seems to run kind of hot and cold. With Lily, Nicky, Chloe and even you he's hot, warm I'd even say friendly. But, when he talks to me or about the kidnapper he was completely cold."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She sung her leg over his prone body so that she was resting on his thighs.

"I don't know yet. Your father seems very protective and I think that's kind of a good thing. But, since we just met I don't know if I could give a more thorough analysis of the situation."

Angel as she moved to lay down on him, maneuvering her position so that she lied on top of him with one leg still propped over his. "I got the same sort of feeling. I was wondering if it was just me, glad to know its not." She moved her hands and laid her head down his chest listening to the calming sound of his beating heart in an uninterrupted silence as his hands traced small circles on her back.

Or at least that's what she'd been attempting before there was a knock on the door. Before either Angel or Patrick could respond the door opened with Lily popping through.

"Hey Daddy and Momma are — oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude." Lily said surprised as she stared down at her sister and Patrick on the bed together rather intimately. At least they were clothed.

"Its okay, Lily you're not interrupting anything. What's this about Dad?" Angel said moving into a sitting position but not away from Patrick.

"Uh, Daddy wanted me to let you know that he and Momma left to go pick up Aunt Mimi and Uncle Brady. They should be back in a bit and he wants to introduce you to Brady."

"I thought your father didn't get along well with your Uncle Brady."

Lily shrugged, "I don't know about that, he just wanted me to give you the message. Oh and my grandpa Stefano wants to meet you too, he's downstairs with Nicky."

Angel nodded taking everything in as she moved away from Patrick and off of the bed. "Right, so we'll be down just as soon as we shower and change. But, before you go you should know that we've decided to go ahead and tell Dad the truth about Eva. We're going to tell him everything when he gets back."

"Why?"

"We want to call my father have him get involved in the investigations, he has connections that are shall we say somewhat less than legal and he could probably access to information that Philip can't. But, before we do that Philip has to be told the truth." Patrick offered as he too, rose from the bed. "So just tell your grandfather that we'll be down soon, Lily."

"Okay we'll be in the breakfast room; you remember where that is right?"

"We remember. See you later." Angel replied as she shut the door behind her sister and headed to the in suite bathroom.

* * *

Rex came down the stairs intending to grab himself a cup of coffee as he awaited the arrival of his wife and Brady, when he heard a noise in the Stefano's library/office. Figuring that it was probably his grandfather, he walked into the barely lit room, he didn't see any books or anything or the floor. But, there was a figure of a man sitting behind the desk, partially darken so he could make out who it was exactly.

"Grandfather what are you doing sitting in the dark?" He turned to flick the switch of the overhead light. He turned back around to face Stefano, he was surprised to see that the man sitting behind the desk was not his grandfather it was someone more dangerous. "Lion." Rex started to back out of the room.

"Well, I'm certainly not Stefano Dimera but I am pleased to see that you remembered me." The man stood, stalking from behind the desk after Rex.

"I told you he would come." As Rex turned to run he was stopped by the menacing figure of a tall woman with a sliver gun cocked at him. "Now, now Rex, where do you think you're running off to?"

Rex swore. "Don't you ever leave your bitch at home,"he hissed.

The woman grinned slyly before backhanding Rex across the face leaving a red mark and a bloody lip. "Rex, a bitch is a female dog. I am a Tigress," Taking her free hand she roughly gave his reddening cheek a stinging slap. "You'd do well to remember that." With her gun she gestured back for him to move back into the library. Having no choice but to do as she asked he moved back into the room followed closely by the woman as she shut the door. "Have a seat Rex." She kicked the back of his calf causing the fall forward onto a chair.

He righted himself, touching his lip to find that it was bleeding from her earlier smack. "Are you going to call off your wife?"

Leaning back against the edge of the desk, the man called Lion calmly pulled a dangerous looking knife from his boot. "I don't know I'm kind of enjoying this. It's been a while since I've seen her torture anyone."

"Tor-torture — me? What for?"

"For messing with the Tigress' domain."

Rex was dumbfounded he didn't know what they were talking about. "What?"

Using the knife as if it were a file, Lion raked the sharp against his manicured nails. "You know in the jungle, the lion is the king and he protects his land and his den. If anyone tried to claim that land or the den, the king fights back to the death. If you mess with the king, you will be punished."

"And?"

"Well, the lion isn't the only one who protects his own, the lioness does as well. Or in this case the tigress protects her young. And when someone tries to harm her young or heaven forbid take her cub … she gets angry…"

"And goes for blood." Tigress snarled as she grasped Rex's hair roughly jerking his head back.

The hair on the back of Rex's neck stood up as his head was painfully jerked back. "Wait a minute you're saying that someone took your son."

"Give the man a prize, X. He got in one shot. Now, the next question will get you the grand prize. Where, is my son?" She asked slowly punctuating each word with a blow across Rex's face, drawing blood from his lip again as it was raked against his teeth.

"I don't know."

"That was the wrong answer." Lion said softly as he repositioned himself on the desk so that he was directly across from Rex, the knife still in his hand.

"Yes, it was." Tigress said releasing her grip on his hair as she struck him again on this time it was with the butt of her gun. "I'm going to give you one more chance to tell the truth and then we'll play a little game of salt and filter."

Blood gushed openly from Rex's nose where the gun had hit him. He clutched it tilting his head upward to stop the blood flow. "I think you broke my nose."

"Oh, now you're exaggerating, I didn't break your nose. The bone didn't even crack, but if you want a broken nose far be it for me—" she raised her hand to strike him again.

"NO!"

"Now, Rex, there's no reason to yell, yet." She smiled down at him benevolently.

Suddenly, the door opened, "Uncle Rex, Momma and Dad are back." Lily started as the last of the words sided on her lips her gaze shot from each occupant of the room before going back to her uncle on a chair with a bloody face. She turned and ran out of the room. "Grandpa, Patrick, the kidnappers are here and they've got Uncle Rex."

Lion stood frowning as the teenaged girl ran from the room. "Did she say Patrick?"

"X, I think the more important question was would be who she was. Stefano only has one granddaughter and she's got to be around Patrick's age now. That girl was sixteen maybe seventeen years old." Tigress moved from Rex's bloodied figure putting her gun in the back of her pants. "Should we abort?"

"No, I want to see who this Patrick is."

"You don't think it's him do you?"

"I don't know but nothing he does now surprises me, but siding with the enemy is new even for him." Lion said as he moved to stand next to the Tigress, sliding his knife back into his boot.

_Back in the hallway …_

Everyone had heard Lily's scream and headed the down the corridor that it came from. Stefano was in the lead with his motorized wheelchair cutting the distance in half, closely followed by Patrick and Angel who carried a scared Nicky in her arms. Although, the child was still weary of her, hearing his older sister scream had scared him just enough to seek comfort from his other sister. They met in the wide corridor, Lily colliding with Patrick; he grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

"Liliana, my child what is going on?" Stefano asked concerned as he grasped his great-granddaughter's hand to give her a comforting squeeze.

"Oh, Grandpa, they were hurting Uncle Rex … he was bleeding … he looked hurt … I-I think he's dead." Lily recounted hysterically.

"Lily, Lily, I need you to calm down and tell me where were they were and what they looked like." Patrick suggested gently as he soothingly rubbed the girls' back.

"It was a man and woman dressed in all black. They were in the library and the woman had a gun in her hand, I think."

"Okay, I'm going to go check it out, I want you to stay here with your grandfather and wait for your father." Lily nodded shakily as she started to calm down. Then, Patrick turned and left going the same the direction she had come from.

"Patrick, Patrick wait." Angel said as she gave Nicky to his grandfather and took off after her husband down the corridor.

"Angel, don't go," Lily called out.

"Liliana, don't. We will wait for your father on the helio-pad entrance. Come with me my child."

"But,"

"No, Lily, Nikos is already scared enough. Your brother-in-law is capable of handling any of the trouble that comes. You will follow me." With that Stefano turned his wheelchair around, mindful of Nicky in his lap and headed in an alternate direction with Lily following closely behind.

Angel caught up with her husband as he approached the closed door to the library. She grabbed a hold of his shirt from behind him and he stopped turning to her.

"Angel why aren't you with your sister? I wanted you to wait with her."

"Why so you can get yourself hurt? I don't think so. We're in this together remember."

Rather then wasting time fighting with her, he sighed holding out his hand. "Okay but you stay behind me." Taking her hand with his, he led the way to the library door where he opened the door. Angel walked behind him into the room ready for any dangers that would present themselves.

* * *

Philip helped Chloe and Mimi out of the car, thereby to avoid having an argument with Brady. The last thing he needed was to get into an altercation either physical or violent with his nephew after only twenty minutes of being in the same breathing space. Holding open the door to the main house, expecting no one to be waiting for him, he was surprised to see his children and Stefano awaiting him.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh Daddy, it was awful. The kidnappers they got Uncle Rex and they were beating him." The teenaged girl said as she practically flew into her father's arms.

"What's she talking about Stefano?"

"The kidnappers, Daddy, they're in Grandpa's library and Patrick went to get Uncle Rex and then Angel went after him."

"The kidnappers are here?" Brady asked as he observed his uncle comforting his daughter. Lily had grown to be a very beautiful young woman, she reminded him of Chloe nearly twenty years earlier.

"Yes, apparently they have Rex in the library and your son-in-law Patrick wanted to check things out so your Angelica followed him. You and Brady should go help him out while Chloe, Mimi and I see to the children." Stefano suggested not wanting to be in the presence of Brady Black for one moment longer as he willed his chair over to Chloe who had already taken to calming her daughter.

"You stay here, Brady drop your bag." Philip ordered releasing his daughter to Chloe but not before he kissed her cheek. "Everything will be alright, I promise." His eyes met Chloe's over Lily's head, she gave him a nod of reassurance before he and Brady headed down the hallway to the library.

"Be careful," Mimi said softly as she watched the two men disappear down the hall.

* * *

When Patrick and Angel entered the library they saw the two people they'd least expected to be there.

"Dad,"

"Aunt Elena, what are you doing here?" The young couple asked simultaneously.

"Ugh, related to the Tigress and Lion, I should have known." Rex groused.

"Shut up."

"What are we doing here; I think the more pertinent question is what are you doing here? In Stefano Dimera's home no less."

"Dad I'm a grown man, I don't have to explain myself to you. I owe you no explanations what so ever or did you forget that you disowned me." Patrick bit out vehemently.

"Oh please you know I never disowned you."

Patrick snorted. "Yeah well that's what you told me four years ago."

Xavier raised his hand in a stop motion. "You know what let's not do this." Smirking he stocked toward his adult son. "What you can do is tell me what you were thinking bring Angel into this hostile environment where her life could be placed in danger."

"Xavier, don't. Patrick didn't bring me here, I brought him." Angel interrupted stepping between her husband and his father, laying a hand on Patrick's chest to keep him back. "And we aren't in any danger. Stefano knows we're here and he's been the perfect host."

Elena watched the interaction between all the parties in the room. Upon seeing Xavier in the room, Patrick was immediately defensive and defiant and Angel became the peacemaker between the both of them. Some things never changed, and yet some did as she sensed there was something going on with Angel and Patrick but she couldn't tell what just yet.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing; Stefano Dimera isn't some old grandfather living his life in seclusion. He's a cold-blooded, murdering, psychopathic killer, and kidnapper. What the hell were the two of you thinking sneaking in here—,"

"Wait a minute, we haven't snuck in anywhere, and we're guest of …"

"Of who?" Elena probed.

"Of me. Who the hell are the two of you and what are you doing on my island?" Philip said from the doorway of the library as he walked in with Brady at his side. "Angel, do you know who these people are?" His blue eyes piercing his daughter with a questioning gaze.

"This is my Aunt Elena and Xavier, Patrick's father. Aunt Elena this is my … my father." Angel directed her gaze to her aunt seeing a flicker of hurt pass through her grey eyes.

"So you found your father, I guess you got what you wanted after all."

"Hey, that's not fair – you denied her the chance. She had every right to find her father."

"Patrick, please."

"No, Angel someone has to say it. All she ever wanted was a chance to meet him but you wouldn't know that because you never bothered to ask."

"I was trying to protect you, Angel." Elena protested.

"Protect me from what? He doesn't have legal rights to me. What harm would it have done to let me meet him for myself?" Moving her hand from Patrick's chest she took a formidable stance against her aunt, her green eyes flaring.

"You ask that standing in the home of Stefano Dimera? After everything that man has done. I warned you that you would be setting yourself up to get into trouble."

"That's not true. But, I don't expect you to understand, you never did, that's why you kicked me out."

"I never kicked you out. I gave you a choice."

"No, you gave me an ultimatum, either I ended my relationship with Patrick or you wouldn't give me the information to find my father. I made the only decision you left me with. I left and I don't regret my decision for one minute." She linked hands with Patrick.

"Is he okay?" Brady asked as he stared at the bloody Rex.

"Of course, he's fine. I didn't even break his nose, it just a little blood." Elena scoffed. "Aren't you Recando?"

"You know Rex." Philip questioned still trying to put all the details in perspective.

"Oh yes, Rex and I go way back don't we poppet?" Rex simply grunted. "Now why are you here Angel?"

"My daughter and her husband don't —,"

"Husband, you're married?" Xavier demanded.

Glancing at their linked hands, Elena finally saw the gold bands on their hands. "How long?"

"Almost three years."

Elena shook her head in disappointment. "You were too young."

"I am not too young to know my own mind and my heart. I love Patrick, I always have."

"Why were you beating Rex?"

"For the same reason Angel and Patrick are here." Xavier answered.

"You know, how could you know?"

"Patrick, there is very little that I don't know."

"But how could you we only told Charlie and Grandpa about Eva?"

"Who's Eva?" Elena asked frowning.

"Our daughter." Patrick and Angel confessed.

To be continued …

So what do you think post chapter 10 now (when I finish it) or wait and come back after I've got caught up with SOTH? You decide.


	10. 10

**Author's Note: **Hey guys I know it's been a while since I last posted a chapter of this story but I hope not that long. If you've checked my website in the last few weeks you've probably noticed I've been making a few changes here and there. I am currently in the process of editing all of my stories as well as adding new additions to the site so a lot of my time has been taken up with that. However, I want to ensure you that I have not forgotten about SOTH and SR both stories and are working on both of them as we speak.

I will be away on vacation for the next week so nothing will be updated for at while but, if you want updates as to the status of any of my stories you can check the my website or just email me. Once I get back I should have the next chapter of SOTH ready to go. Also, I am working on the next installment of the Salem Family Series; it's already completely planned out and needs to go through an editing process. Unlike the last two installments of the series this one will showcase all three families so look out for that. All right now enough chatting and on with the fic.

**Chapter Ten**

"You're what?" Philip exclaimed staring at his daughter in bewilderment; then turned to Patrick. "You got my daughter pregnant."

"Oh, I knew it, you had to get married because you got Angel pregnant." Elena added shaking her head.

"Why does everyone assume that Patrick had to marry me because I got pregnant?" Angel asked only to receive equal looks of astonishment on the faces of the people around her. "For the record, Patrick did not marry me for Eva." She pulled her necklace from under her shirt and opened the locket. "This is our daughter, Genevieve Annabel." She showed the photo to both her father and aunt not to mention father-in-law. "This picture is only a few months old, it was taken when Eva was six months old, she nine months old now."

Philip looked at the picture of his grandchild with a mixture of feelings he couldn't identify. She was beautiful and reminded him of photos of Angel at that age that he'd seen. He glanced over at Elena, and saw the same expression of wonderment on her face. "I take then that you never knew about her either."

Elena felt her eyes fill with tears as she stared at the picture of her grandniece then glanced back her husband to see his expression mirrored hers. "No, I didn't know." Xavier came to stand behind his wife but he said nothing. His silence told her everything she needed to know, he was as deeply affected by the revelation that Patrick and Eva had kept their daughter from them.

"Annabel, you named her after my mother?" Xavier asked.

Patrick nodded slowly as he came behind Angel placed his hands on her shoulders in comfort. "We thought it would be great as an honor to her because I know Grandma would have loved her."

Clearing his throat, Brady attempted to turn everyone's attention to him. "As touching as this little family reunion maybe, I'd like to bring it back to finding my son. Or are you just planning to forget that my son was kidnapped?"

"Your son was kidnapped?"

"Yes, he was."

Xavier and Elena exchanged confused looks. "If you're here because his son was kidnapped then where is my granddaughter? Why isn't she with you?"

Angel snapped the locket shut and before meeting the questioning gazes of everyone in the room. "She was taken, kidnapped, two weeks ago."

"Why didn't you come to us?" Xavier demanded. "You know we could have found her by now."

"We were going to at first but, it's not that simple. The kidnappers left us a note in the crib and it said to find Eva we needed to see my father, naturally we assumed it was about you," Patrick answered nodding to his father. "But, I talked to Charlie and he told me that you guys haven't had anything contact with anyone in the business in years, and then we thought about Philip—,"

"Wait a minute, you can't tell us, your parents, that we have a grandchild but you have no trouble at all telling your ten-year-old brother. Exactly how many people knew about Eva before us?" Elena asked in a quiet tone.

"Aunt Elena," Angel started but at her aunt's penetrating glare she answered her, "Charlie, Jacob, and Lily but that's it."

"Lily knows, how could she know already after just two days?"

"How could Lily know what?" Chloe asked as she entered the room followed by Mimi.

"Oh my god Rex, what happened to your face?" Mimi asked rushing over to her husband's side.

"Mimi, I'm fine, I'm fine, I just had a little run-in with a gun." He pulled his hand away from his face and saw the blood on his shirt. "Ugh, I've got blood all over me, look I'm going to clean up." He rose unsteadily to his feet and was aided by Mimi.

"Let me help you."

"No, Mimi I'll be fine really." He patting her shoulder, he awkwardly walked out of the room.

After he was gone Chloe repeated her question of what knew Lily.

"I have a granddaughter." Philip nodded to Angel and Patrick.

Chloe blinked in surprise glancing from her husband to his daughter. "Where is she?"

"Kidnapped apparently," Brady answered dryly from his position at the doorway.

"When?"

"Two weeks ago—,"

"That's how you knew, isn't it? That's how you knew they were going to take Nicky?" Mimi questioned as she began pulling the details of the story together in her mind.

Angel nodded. "Yes, but we didn't know your son would be with him, I swear. We never even saw him; if we had we would have taken him too."

Mimi nodded somewhat comforted by that. Finally, she noticed Elena and Xavier standing across the room; her green eyes were lit with questions she didn't ask.

"Well, I guess that explains Charlie." Xavier added crossing his arms over his chest.

"What about Charlie, Dad?"

"Someone broke in and took him two days ago. That's why we came here, there was a vague message left on the machine about coming to this island. We were attempting to get our old Recando to tell us what he knew when your daughter," he nodded to Philip, "showed up."

"Recando?"

"Rex Dimera or at least that's what he's going by now." Elena explained.

"So wait a minute your son was kidnapped too?" Brady asked again to ensure that his facts were straight. After Xavier nodded he turned to Philip. "Well who the hell did you piss off Kiriakis, if everyone's kids but your own were kidnapped. There's more going on than you're telling us isn't there?"

Philip broke under the leaden stares from all the occupants in the room and explained everything that happened over the last few weeks at Titan and Phoenix Enterprises.

"What kind of half-cocked security system do you have that would allow for so many breaches to go unnoticed for so long? What did you do let your son make it?"

"Dad, you're not helping."

"Considering that your brother was taken due to your _esteemed_ father-in-law, I can't help that I'm not exactly in a helping mood."

"What makes you think your son was taken because of Philip, he doesn't even know you. Did you think that maybe your past as a CIA, ISA, or whatever agency you were working for might be the reason for his disappearance." Chloe added defending her husband. "I simply refuse to believe that my husband has more enemies working in the corporate world than someone who was a spy.

"Guys, this is not helping anyone. We need to figure out who would want to take our children and we need to figure it out now. Everyone is a target." Mimi said stepping in the middle of the room. "Just put your family issues aside for a second until our children are back then you can rehash it all you want."

"Mimi's right, if good ole Uncle Phil and I can keep out feelings neutral to find my son. I don't see why you can't do the same for the benefit of your granddaughter."

"Thank you Brady."

Elena noted the passing glances between Rex's wife and her son's father with an arched brow. She mentally filed that knowledge away knowing that it could be useful later.

"So how about it, Dad a truce for my daughter?"

Xavier looked from his son to Philip Kiriakis and without a word offered his hand to the younger man. "Truce?"

Philip stared at the other man's hand for a second before taking it in his for a firm handshake. "Truce."

"Aunt Elena?" Angel prompted.

"Oh, it goes for me as well."

"Me too." Chloe added.

"Good, then we can get down to business—," Mimi started clasping her hands together when Stefano Dimera appeared in the doorway.

"When Rex told me the Tigress and Lion were in my humble abode, I simply couldn't resist coming to greet them." The heavily accented voice boomed as he rolled his motorized wheelchair into the room. "Elena, Xavier to what do I owe the honor of your presence, I thought you retired."

Elena smiled slyly at the old crime lord as she moved to greet him. "Now Stefano you can't be surprised to see me here. Didn't I tell you I'd always be watching you old man?"

"That you did." Stefano chuckled heartily as he kissed Elena's hand. "But you know I've retired from the business as well just as you. After you left, my dear, the agents just didn't have your flair."

"Flirting with my wife old man now is that anyway to say hello to an old friend." Xavier said smirking. "How are you?"

"I am good, still in the wheelchair but that's to be expected."

"And this is the man that was just lecturing _me_ about how dangerous Stefano Dimera is. Here he is acting like they're old buddies or something." Patrick murmured under his breath to which Angel responded with a not so sudden jap to his solar plexus, making him take in a breath.

"From the condition of my grandson, I'd wager that Elena had a little _chat_ with him?"

"Well you know me Stefano, hit first, shoot later." She laughed lightly.

"Yes, I do. I'm only sorry that Rex had to be on the receiving end of your _discussion_."

"Oh for crying out aloud, if the three of you are done with your little social call could we get back to the issue at hand?" Brady asked figuring enough was enough already.

Stefano scowled openly at Brady. "Do not forget whose home you're in Brady Black."

Xavier's gaze shot to the tall blonde's in surprise. "You're John Black's son?"

"Yes, you know my father?" Brady countered.

"Everyone in the agency knows your father." Elena answered promptly. "But, Xavier worked with him exclusively for a brief time before becoming my partner."

"Exactly, what agency do you work for?"

"CIA, ISA, DEA, it depends take your pick. I specialized in armed/unarmed combat and foreign affairs. X was security and intelligence; we were partners for ten years before I retired from the Buz. X here worked solo for two years after me until he decided to get out of the game as well. If you want to know anything more than that I'd have to kill you."

"So how do you know my grandfather, did you work for him?" Chloe asked trying to understand the dynamic between the three people.

Elena, Xavier, and Stefano's rich laughter rang through the air. "You're kidding right? Stefano and I never worked together. We're on opposite sides of the law after all."

"Then what's with the instant camaraderie, like the three of you are friends or something?"

"It's simple really, not a big deal. We respect each other. Besides there's an old adage that I like to follow, know your enemy. You would probably do well to remember that Black. You have to know someone in order to bring them down." Elena leaned down to Stefano and added in an aside, "He clearly doesn't know much does he?"

"Not a clue," Stefano confirmed.

Rising back to her standing position she sighed. "Like father, like son."

Before Brady could comment the telephone on the desk began to ring. Philip walked over and picked up the phone. "This is Philip Kiriakis."

"Good day Mr. Kiriakis would you like to hear about your granddaughter?" The slighted accented voice inquired.

Philip signaled for everyone in the room to be quiet. "What?"

"I said would you like to hear about your granddaughter? But, if you don't know what I'm talking about I'll just hang up—,"

"No, no do you have my granddaughter, where is she, tell me now." Philip demanded.

"First things first Mr. Kiriakis, are you alone?"

"No."

"Who's with you?"

"My wife, nephew, daughter, son-in-law, my cousin's wife and my wife's grandfather." He answered deliberately leaving out Xavier and Elena.

"Is that everyone Mr. Kiriakis?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm asking the questions here Mr. Kiriakis, now I repeat is that everyone who is with you?"

Sighing Philip revealed the last to people in the room. "That's it everyone."

"Ahh, I'm glad to see the Tigress and Lion could make it. Do you have a speakerphone, Mr. Kiriakis?"

"Yes,"

"Then put me on it."

Philip pressed the speakerphone button and put the phone down on the desk. "You're on speakerphone."

"Good, Mr. Kiriakis. Now, I'm going to do a little roll call to make sure everyone is accounted for before we get down to the business of your missing children. Right then, are the Cabreas present – Angel and Patrick, I believe?"

"Yes, we're here." They answered simultaneously.

"Black and Lockhart-Dimera?"

"Present." Brady answered for both of them.

"Lion and Tigress?"

"We're here," Xavier answered.

"I'd knew you'd get the message. And finally Stefano and Mrs. Kiriakis?"

"Of course we are here you fool, now where is my grandson?" Stefano answered for them.

"You'll find out in due time Mr. Dimera. One moment please," the phone went silent.

"What the hell is this?" Brady asked annoyed already with the way this was going. Honestly, what kind of kidnapper puts a person on hold?

"Quiet," Xavier said as he took out a small hand held computer from the pocket of his pants. Elena walked over to her husband to hand him a small pair of pliers and two small wires of which she pulled from zippered pocket on the black vest she was wearing. In less than a minute Xavier had the small computer connected with the phone and stood back to admire his handy work.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen let's get down the business." The male voice said as he came back on the phone. "We will release into your custody the baby girl and boy – Genevieve Cabrea and Alexander Dimera."

"What about my son?" Tigress growled.

The man continued on as if she had said nothing. "In order for this to happen boys and girls we seek something that was rightfully ours, a project file on the Titan database—,"

"Why don't you get yourself since you've already breached the security systems?"

"Because we want you to get it for us Mr. Kiriakis. The project file is called ARIAs find it and we'll make the switch at Glen Echo Memorial Park Merri-Go-Round. You'll have 72 hours. There are to be no cops or law enforcement of any kind. We want each child's father and Mr. Kiriakis to be in attendance. And for safety reasons no Tigress, we've seen her work before and we don't want any bloodshed. If we see her anywhere near the site the deal will be off. Should you attempt to bring anyone else with you or arrive without the file, the deal will be off and you'll never see your children again. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that a beautiful blonde baby such as Genevieve or John Black's grandson will sell well enough on the black market to have us disappear completely."

"We got it, we be there." Philip replied sternly.

"Good, I'll see you there gentlemen. And it was lovely doing business with you."

"Wait a minute what about my son?"

"Your son is fine Tigress."

"Then why isn't he being freed? Why are you holding him he has nothing to do with this?"

"You'd like to think that wouldn't you Tigress? Does the name Joe McDougal mean anything to you?"

"Joe McDougal?" Tigress frowned in confusion as she tried to figure out why that name seemed so familiar to her.

"Think on it Tigress." With that the person clicked off the phone as Xavier went to his small computer and began working with it.

"So what's the plan Philip?" Chloe asked her husband.

"First thing we need to head back to New York to get everything together. I'll need to get the file from Titan and find out where that Park is."

"Can't you just have Lucas locate the file for you and meet you in New York?" Chloe suggested thinking that it would easier to have Lucas bring the file than to have Philip running from Salem to New York once he got back home given that they only had 72 hours.

"Yeah, I'll call him and have him get the file and meet me at home."

"How soon do you want to leave?" Brady asked.

"Tomorrow? Is everyone okay with that?" He pointed looked at all the necessary parties in the room.

"Fine, I'll have Julia arranged from some rooms to be set up." Stefano added as he wheeled himself out of the room in search of the housekeeper/head maid to have the room made ready.

"Good, Xavier how long before you finish," he paused "whatever it is you're doing?"

"About thirty minutes give or take a few." Xavier answered promptly not looking up from his position leaning against the desk fiddling with the small the computer.

"I'll be back; I need to speak with my wife in private." Philip held out his hand for Chloe to take. Which she did without question, as he led her out of the room and headed down the hallway. Together they walked down the corridor to another room which he pulled her in and promptly closed the door.

"What did you want to tell me that you don't want anyone else to know?"

"It's not what I want you to know it's what I want you to do."

"And what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to stay here in on the island with Stefano—,"

"No." She said interrupting him shaking her head.

"Chloe, you—,"

"No absolutely not. Philip I wouldn't feel comfortable if I knew you were there and I was here doing nothing waiting for you to get back. We don't know what could happen while you're meeting with the kidnappers and I want, no I need to be there if something happens for my own piece of mind."

Rising his hands he grasped her shoulders. "Chloe, I understand that I do but we don't have time to argue about this. The fact is that I can't guarantee that the mansion is safe any longer. At least if you're here then I know that no one can gain access without Stefano or his security being alerted."

She snorted indignantly. "If that's true then how you do explain Patrick's parents' getting on the island without anyone being alerted?"

"Well, they're different. They are experts on getting in and out of places undetected."

"And you think the next set of kidnappers won't be?"

"Obviously not if they think thought that Alex was Nicky," he muttered under his breath. "Look, Chloe just humor me, please." He asked smoothing his hands down her shoulder blades to her run up and down her arms soothingly.

"All right, I'll stay." She agreed after her long pause during which she stared intently into his stormy blue eyes. He pulled her into his embrace. "You have to do one thing for me though."

"Anything."

"Tell Lily that you're making her stay on the island. I calmed her down earlier but there is no way I'm going to on the end of the fit she'll have when she finds out that she has to stay."

"I'll talk to her." He promised. "But first I need to call Lucas and have him find the file for me." Releasing his wife with sigh, leaving Chloe to herself with her thoughts all filled with concern for her husband for the danger he was likely to face.

After making the phone call to his brother in Salem, Philip returned to library to find out if there had been any progress made on finding out where the Glen Echo Memorial Park was located and to find out what Xavier had found with his gadgets.

"We've already located the Park. It's in a moderately, secluded wooden area in Maryland right outside of DC. We're pulling instructions off web now." Patrick answered as he typed away on a laptop computer that was presumably Stefano's with Angel leaning over him.

Philip nodded to his apparent son-in-law and then turned his attention to Xavier. "What have you got?"

"At the moment not much, the kidnapper was smart enough to put a scrambler on the phone line he used. But, than any _crimie_ worth his salt knows that." Note: _Crimie_ is a word I made up as a nick name for a criminal

"So you won't get anything from the phone call?" Brady said.

"Now, I didn't say that. I'll get something the trick is simply to have a better, quicker, smarter system than his to unscramble the phone number. Which I, of course, happen to have designed specifically for the purpose of unscrambling the best systems."

"You can do that?" Brady asked his voice filled with awe.

"There isn't much I can't do." Xavier replied shortly not taking his attention away from the small computer he was working with. "Are things set with your brother?"

"Yes, Lucas will meet us at my house in New York when he gets the file. More to the point, when we leave Chloe and my children are staying with Stefano, is anyone planning on staying here or is everyone going?"

"I think it would be good for one of us to stay here, Lena. You know just in case and considering that they specifically said they didn't want you around," Xavier started.

"I should stay, I got it." Elena finished nodding.

"Well, I have to go because Xander won't recognize Brady as his father."

"And I'm not staying here." Angel answered arms crossed over her chest giving her husband a defiant look because she knew that given the choice he'd have her stay.

Hand raised, he shrugged knowing no matter what he said she would be going. So he wisely said nothing.

"What about Rex?" Philip asked of Mimi.

"He'll—,"

"He should stay here." Elena interrupted. "I mean the kidnapper asked for Brady not Rex, after all." She amended.

Mimi looked as though she would object but Brady said something. "Yeah, and the last thing we want to do is piss off the kidnappers."

"So its settled then Elena, Rex, Chloe and my children will stay." Before Philip could even finish his statement Lily appeared in the doorway.

"Why do I have to stay Daddy?" Lily asked arms crossed over her chest. "I should go with you, I can help."

Philip glanced over at his daughter in the doorway. "I,"

"Philip why don't you and Lily go talk, I can get everyone settled." Mimi suggested knowing that her friend needed to talk with his daughter.

"Yes, of course," he turned away from Lily. "Meems can tell you anything you want to know. She knows everything that we do with you have any questions." He paused by Mimi nodding to her as he followed Lily out of the room to go talk.

"So any questions?" Mimi asked throwing herself into the position of all-knowing Meems.

* * *

Lily led her father to Stefano's game room, the former family room pre-grandchildren. She sat down in the black leather armchair, with her legs curled under, her arms crossed with a perpetual frown marring her beautiful face. She said nothing waiting for her father to speak before she began to build her case against him. Mentally thinking of excuses and reasons to protest his apparent decision.

He sat down on the entable before her. "Lily," he started and waited for her hazel eyes to rise up to his blue ones. "I realize that this has been a lot for you to take in the last few days. I mean finding out that you have a half-sister, a brother-in-law, and on top of everything you are an aunt—,"

"Oh, she told you about that. Good."

"Yes, she told me. The point is with all of that drama followed by the breaches in security and Alex's consequent kidnapping things haven't been exactly easy on any of us, least of all you."

"Which you didn't tell me about at first," Lily added breaking her gaze with her father to stare at something else in the room.

"Lily, there are going to be things that your mother or I can't or won't tell you for many reasons. I'm not going to apologize for that because ultimately I'm trying to do what is best to keep you safe and protect you."

She dropping her arms from its crossing position she returned her gaze to his. "But, Daddy that just it, you keep things from all the time, I'm not a little girl anymore and by _protecting_ me as you call it all you're really doing is just shutting me out."

Philip grabbed her hands out of her lap, holding them in his. "I get that, I really do. But, sweetie no matter how old you are, you'll always be my little girl. Even when I'm old and gray can't walk anymore, when you have children of your own. While, that may not be something you like, it's the way it is."

"Fine, I can deal with that. I just don't understand why everyone else gets to go and we have to stay here."

"First of all everyone else isn't going and its not like we got to choose who could go and who could stay, the kidnappers did that for us. As for my needing you to stay here, it's a tactical decision really." Lily gave her father a bemused look. "This is the safest place for you to be right now. Stefano won't let anything happen to you on his island and while I'm not here I need to know that you're safe. Three children have already been taken and I don't want to add a fourth or fifth to that list. So I'm asking you even if you don't like my decision, not to given your Mom a lot of grief while I'm gone and humor me."

Lily shrugged sighing. "I don't like I but, I understand why you're asking me to stay. So I won't make Mom crazy while you're gone. But, you have to do something for me in exchange Daddy."

"Anything."

"I want you to call us every hour on the hour to let us know that you're okay."

Philip nodded, "that I can do." He cupped her face smiling slightly. "Thanks sweetheart." Kissing her cheek, he rose to leave the room.

"Remember, every hour on the hour, Daddy." Lily called out after him.

* * *

Everything had been arranged for the return trip back to New York. Lucas, who had found the file, agreed to meet his brother and company at Philip's home to make the transfer. Xavier determined that the call was virtually untraceable but targeted its location as from coming somewhere in the Bethesda area of Maryland, which was consistent to the directions that got for the park online. He'd also informed them that he had a friend that could get him the plans for the park so they could see where everything was located and where the kidnappers could be holding the children for the meeting.

As time passed by on Eixel, day soon became night and everyone seemed to be getting more and more anxious by the minute. Everyone that is except for Elena, as she was more concerned about the motive behind the kidnappings and what they had to do with her than planning of the leaving the island. While, everyone else had been focused on New York, her attention was more focused on trying to get in contact with buddies from her former spy days for information and trying to get a handle on the new and improved Rex Dimera, as he was calling himself these days. More attention was paid to the latter of course as she sought Mimi out after dinner and their conversation was nothing if not interesting.

"So how long have you known Rex?"

"Almost five years?"

"And he didn't tell you anything about his former job, curious." Elena replied.

"So is it that he worked with Stefano before or something else entirely?" Mimi questioned wanting to know why this woman seemed to be so interested in her husband.

Elena in turn studied the petite woman before her intently. Finding out that Rex had married and had a child was a shock but seeing the woman he married was pretty shocking as well. Miriam "Mimi" Lockhart wasn't Rex Dimera's type of woman at all. In fact she was the polar opposite to the air headed bimbos he'd dated when she was around. No, she was smart but how smart she truly was remained but in the air as it was clear that she truly had no idea what kind of man her really husband was. "I take it then you are fully aware of the kind of work Stefano did _before_ he retired?"

Mimi nodded. "Of course, I know what Stefano did. I was born and raised in Salem I know he's always been on the less than legal side of the law. But, even then things aren't always as black and white as they seem. There are a lot of gray areas concerning his previous job."

"Yes, I suppose that's true. Look, I'll level with you here. While there maybe a lot of gray areas in life there aren't that many when it comes to Rex Dimera. There are things that you don't know about him, things that aren't good. And if you knew the truth about some of the things he's done. You wouldn't trust him not with your life or that of your son."

"Ms. T'gre I respect that you knew my husband a long time before I did and in your line of work I'm sure you some pretty unconscionable things. But, people can change and maybe Rex did."

"Maybe he did but in my experience, both professional and personal, people like him _don't_ change." Her gaze traveled to the man in question talking with Philip across the room. "Some people can seem like they've changed but the truth is that its only camouflage. Their true personalities are hidden from the world and everyone at large until they get what they want. Once that happens they revert to their old selves in a heartbeat," she shifted her astute grey gaze to the woman in front of her. "And destroy whoever or whatever happens to be in their way. If you want to know the real truth about Rex Dimera, ask." With that Elena turned away from the smaller woman leaving her staring at her husband across the room.

"So is everything set, Dad?" Patrick asked as Elena joined the threesome.

"Yes, Wolf said he'll have everything ready when we get there." Xavier looked at his wife. "Are you sure you want to stay here Lena?"

"Yes, I'm positive. Besides, I've got Donnor calling me hopefully with so info soon. Not to mention, I wouldn't leave my own worst enemy alone with Rex Dimera. I want to know what he's up to."

"You don't think he's involved to you Aunt Lena?" Angel pushed a strand of hair behind her ears. "I mean he seemed nice enough to me."

"And what was the first thing I ever taught you?"

"That nothing is as it seems and if something is too good to be true it probably is. That if you look hard enough beyond the surface you can find even the nicest person has a dark side lurking, waiting to for a chance to catch you off guard." Angel recited from memory.

"Exactly. Recando Dimera has a darker side than anyone I've ever known. His only saving grace is that he knows how to hide his well. If he's given the chance he'll betray you in an instant. So to answer your question yes, Angel I think he's involved. I'd say he's up to his eyeballs in this. While you guys go get my granddaughter and Black's kid I'll be here watching that little rat bastard to make sure he does step out of line, by any means necessary." She punctuated by crackling her knuckles.

The next morning all those leaving for New York departed bright and early in their quest to get their children back. Leaving Chloe, Lily, Nicky, Stefano, Rex and Elena awaiting their call and taking up the investigation of the kidnappers motives in their wake.

Please tell me what you think I love hearing feedback.


	11. 11

Author's Note: Finally a new chapter! I apologize for not getting it out sooner but honestly this semester was just too busy for me to get anything writing done. So I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Also, I've updated the character page, so please check it out. Without further ado here's the new chapter.

**Chapter Eleven**

They arrived back in New York around three o'clock that afternoon, immediately heading to Philip's mansion where Lucas, Shawn and apparently Sami awaited them with the necessary file. The reunion between the Salemites and Brady was nothing if not civil.

"Xavier Leoné, Patrick and Angel Cabrea – my nephew Shawn Brady, my brother Lucas and his wife Sami. They run Titan and Phoenix Enterprises in Salem. Shawn handles security." Philip explained as he introduced them to his family. "And I trust everyone knows Brady and Mimi."

"Of course we do. We're not likely to forget my esteemed step-brother. I'll never understand how you managed to stay out of jail. You're one person that I would love to see in an orange jumpsuit." Sami added not mincing any words, showing her obvious dislike for Brady.

"It's always nice to see you too, Sami. Fabricate any DNA results lately?" Brady fired back.

Sami smirked. "What about you launder any money _lately_?"

"Sami," Lucas started. The situation was bad enough already the last thing they needed was for an argument to start.

"What Lucas? I was just making conversation"

"That's not the point. And must you make _conversation_ with him. If you were going to argue with him you should have just stayed in Salem."

"Why? So you could come here to investigate alone. Need I remind you that Phoenix Enterprises has a vested interest in this as well."

"Lucas," Philip started attempting to interrupt his brother and Sami before they argued.

"But, I can handle this on my own Sami. I realize that you have a vested interest in this but I hardly think that you needed to be here."

"Sami," Philip said trying to get her attention.

"Oh so you can come, but I can't is that it?"

"Sami, that's not what I said." Lucas protested.

"But, you _implied_ it."

Xavier, Patrick and Angel observed the couple with avid interest as they listened to them argue. Mimi, Shawn and Brady were seemingly unsurprised as they went and sat down in the chairs around the room.

"So … are they always like this?" Angel asked her father as he too ignored his brother and went to sit down.

"Unfortunately, they're usually worse. This is a good day. In any case Lucas, Sami if you two don't mind we actually have more important things to discuss right now. So could you hold off the argument until later, please?" Lucas and Sami stopped arguing as they realized everyone was staring at them.

With a promising glare to her sparing partner, Sami settled herself into a seat. "We'll continue this later."

"Thank you." Philip sardonically added before turning his attention to Lucas. "Lucas, the file?"

Giving his common-law wife an answering glare Lucas picked up a briefcase a thin file.

"That's it?" Brady asked. "They go through all the trouble of kidnapping my son for a piece of paper."

"Wait a minute, _your_ son?" Shawn exclaimed.

Sami merely glanced over at Lucas with sideways smirk and held out her hand. "Pay up."

Lucas sighed digging into his pocket and pulling out a crisp twenty dollar bill, slapping it into her hand.

"So you knew?" Brady asked surprised that Sami had known he was Xander's father when everyone else clearly had not.

"Not for sure, but I did suspect. I mean _hello_, I've know John Black practically my entire life. It's kind of hard not to notice the resemblance. I've been telling Lucas for years that there's no way Rex could be his father. And short of running my own DNA test, I couldn't exactly confirm it."

Xavier observed the dynamic between everyone in the room. He made a mental note to figure out all the blood ties in this family. The family that his son had inadvertently married into was definitely anything but normal and it seemed to be getting more twisted by the minute.

"So where is Rex?"

"He's on Eixel with Chloe and the others. After we get the kids we plan on bringing them back here. So you're sure this was the only thing in the file, nothing more?"

"Positive Philip. As you can see it basically is a summary of previous acquisitions made for the account. Nothing that overtly screams illegal."

Philip nodded. "Well keep your people on it. I'd like to know what's so important about this document that the kidnappers want it so badly. Xavier do you have that info on the park yet?"

"Yes, I've got a friend who's going to meet with us tomorrow to go over the layout. He was able to get the plans for the renovations so that we can see all the areas that are going to be vulnerable."

"A friend?" Brady questioned sardonically.

"Yes, a friend. Some of us do have those." Xavier asked arching his brow.

Elsewhere in the background Sami coughed in a weak attempt to hide her laughter.

"As I was saying I've known Wolf all my life. We grew up together; I'd trust him as I would a brother. What's more, he's a former SEAL, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show you his credentials." He directed toward Brady without any hint of malice in his tone although it was clear that he did not like being challenged.

"I wasn't implying that he didn't have the credentials. I just wanted to know who was involved in this operation." Brady shrugged of his shoulders while he crossing his arms defensively.

"Look, I'm sure everyone is tired and we're all a little stressed. So I'm going to suggest that we just table this discussion until tomorrow. We could all use a little goodnight's sleep." Mimi interrupted attempting to play peacekeeper between the father of her child and Xavier Leone', before turning to Philip. "Are the guest rooms set up?"

"Yes, I called ahead. All the rooms should be up. Angel, you and Patrick can take the same room you had before. Xavier, Shawn and Brady your rooms are on the West wing. Meems, Lucas you know where to go. I suggest everyone try to get a goodnights rest. As Mimi said we'll map out all the details later." Philip said taking a seat behind his desk as they all filed out of the library with Mimi leading the way. He flipped another page of the document.

"Need some help, Kiriakis?" Xavier asked as he came and sat down in the chair across from the desk.

Philip glanced up in surprise as he assumed he was alone. "Sure why not." He slid the file across the desk to the other man. He watched, leaning back in his chair as Xavier scanned through the contents of the file. "So you're what 47, 45 years old? How long did you stay in the ISA? No offense but you seem a little young to have been in all those agencies."

"Not really, I was in for 22 years before I retired when Charlie was born. I'm forty-eight by the way. I've only been out for six years." Not taking his eyes away from the documents, Xavier turned the page.

"So you entered the CIA at 20?" Philip asked incredulously his brow furrowed.

"No."

"Oh, I was about to say."

"I entered the CIA when I was 34. I started out in Naval Intelligence at 22. Then I was recruited by the FBI after my term was up when I was 30." He turned another page.

"What were you a … child prodigy?"

Xavier finally looked up at the man sitting across from him. "Do you want a bio, Kiriakis?"

"Yes, actually, they would be good for starters. I like to know just who I'm inviting in my home. You don't honestly think I'd automatically trust you because you're my son-in-law's father. Things just don't work that way." Philip moved to sit upright in his chair shrewdly eying the older man across from him. "I'm Victor Kiriakis' son."

Xavier smirkingly raised a brow. Tossing the file back down on the desk he nodded. "Took you long enough, Kiriakis." He leaned back in his chair getting comfortable. "I was beginning to doubt you had any of the old man in you." He paused momentarily before he began again.

"My father was a Belgian Ambassador playboy looking to sow his wild oats when he came to Louisiana. And he did with Annabelle Trudeau, the bastard daughter to the L'Dragon Plantation owner Jean Marc' Trudeau the biggest sugar plantation in the entire state. Nine months later, I was born and eighteen months after that my father came back and claimed me. I was proclaimed to be a child prodigy when I was six and accelerated my schooling so I finished high school at 14, had a BS in psychology and a BA in Criminal Justice at 18. Then I joined Navy started out as a SEAL but I got bored. I switched to intelligence so I could get my Masters in Political Science with my focus being Military Intelligence. I finished with that when I was 26, at which time I joined a convert group under the ONI, Office of Naval Intelligence that had me working closely with the ISA. I did that for four years before I retired from the Navy at 30. Then I was recruited by the FBI and worked for another intelligence unit as the chief profiler and other positions which I can't tell you about. I went to work for the CIA briefly before retiring completely six years ago."

Philip whistled. "So I take it then that you know the kidnapping procedures fairly well."

"It was never my area of expertise but yes I do know what I'm doing and so does my wife. Since we're trading stories here tell me, what do you know about Rex Dimera?"

Leaning back in his chair Philip studied Xavier more a moment before answering. "You mean other than that he's my wife's cousin?" Xavier nodded. "He and his sister were raised by their father, Tony Dimera until his untimely demise. Then, Stefano took over sending them to board schools overseas. He groomed Rex to take his place in the business both above and below the law."

Xavier arched a brow in consternation. "So you know that Stefano used to run a crime syndicate."

"Of course, I knew," Philip scoffed. "I've always known that."

"We weren't sure if you knew because your wife and Mimi seemed to be completely in the dark."

"Don't let my wife or Mimi, for that matter fool you. Both of them are fully aware of what Stefano did for a living. How could they not? After all, Mimi worked for him for a few years before he retired. Don't mistake their caviler attitudes as ignorance; it's more a case of us simply not caring."

"Does that mean you've been involved in Stefano's illegal activities in the past?"

"No, that means what Stefano does in his business is just that, _his_ business. As long as he keeps it completely separate from my family and my name, we can co-exist peacefully otherwise there could be _problems_." Philip answered. "We don't live in a world of black and white. But, I make damn sure that my business with Stefano never crosses that thin gray line. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, actually it does."

"Good, now do you know anything about those forms?"

With a cursory glance down at the file, he answered. "They're in code. The Navy used one similar to this one years ago, most intelligence branches have their own separate codes that they use so that if they're enemy intercepts the message it won't mean anything to them."

"Do you know what it says?"

"No, but Wolf might know. When he comes tomorrow with the information on Glen Echo I've have him look into it. In the meantime, I'll see if Elena has any idea."

Philip nodded sighing. "If that's the only way we can be sure, knock yourself out. I'm going to see if everyone is settled."

"Okay." Xavier replied as Philip rose from the desk and allowed for the dark-haired man to take the seat before the computer. Nodding Philip left to the room. He quickly scanned the document into the system and sent it to Elena. Then taking his cell phone from his pocket, he pressed the button to call Elena. After one ring she answered.

"I got the file, you're sure this is the old agency codes?" Elena said from her position behind the computer in Stefano's expansive library on Eixel. "Did you check with Z?"

"Not yet, he's coming by tomorrow. So I'll get him to check on the file then. But, since you are an aficionado when it comes to the agency's codes and parameters I figured you might be able to uncover some of it."

Elena opened the document and scanned the text quickly. "I think I know this code, Xavier, I-I think I developed it."

"Are you sure?"

"Not positive, but pretty sure. I need to check the sequences to be sure. If I'm right and this is what I think it is. I know why they took Charlie."

"Well how long will it take for you to check and decipher it?"

"A day maybe two at most. I'll need to speak with a contact from the agency to verify everything. So it could take some time but I'll have the info. Xavier, this could be deeper than I originally thought." Elena scrolled down to the next page of the document and jotted down a quick note. "Look, I'll call you back when I have the info."

"If you get it before the pick-up time call me. Love you."

"Yeah, I love you too baby." She clicked off her cell phone sliding the thin phone back on to the clip. Looking at her notepad she underlined her last line she'd written. "Joe McDougal. I hope this isn't about you Joey."

* * *

The next morning Philip was downstairs in the kitchen on the phone with his daughter when Brady walked in.

"Yes, Lily we're being careful … no we aren't doing anything like that. Xavier has a friend coming today to give us an idea of what Glen Echo looks like. I don't think you need to be concerned about that at all. I trust Xavier." Brady helped himself to a cup of coffee while Philip continued on the phone. "… Right sweetheart I need to go … okay … okay. Right, I'll call — what no I'm not smoking." He shoved his free hand through his hair. "Lil-Liliana I'm not smoking, you threw away all my cigarette stash before you left. Okay so tell your mother I'll call her later with the details. Bye sweetheart." He clicked off the phone sighing.

Brady sipped some of the coffee as he watched Philip pull out a thin sliver cigarette case from his pocket, opening it he pulled out a stick of gum that was still wrapped and stacked neatly inside the thin case. He didn't even bother to stifle his snort.

"What?" Folding the gum in his mouth, Philip stared questioningly at the other man.

"Gum?"

Philip just shrugged, "Lily hides my cigarettes."

"It's a nasty habit anyway, Philip. So what's on the agenda for today?"

"We're going to meet with Xavier's friend to get the layouts for the park and workout a plan of attack. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering. So when did you meet Angelica's mother? That _is_ her name, right?"

Philip narrowed his eyes at his nephew suspiciously. Brady raised his hands defensively. "Hey man, I'm just trying to figure out exactly how it is you've got a daughter, a twenty-year-old daughter that no one knew about. Not even your wife. I mean, it seems pretty strange to me. Even, after you compare it to all the things we've done in the past."

"Well, not to sound snide or anything. But, you don't know everything about me. You never have. And that is why you didn't know. As for Chloe, I'd just as soon wish you keep your nose out of my business as it doesn't concern you."

"Fair enough," Brady nodded. "So how do you know we can trust your in-laws?"

"I don't," Philip sighed raising his cup of coffee to take a drink. "But, since they're not blood-related, I figure they are probably more trustworthy than half of this family has ever been."

"Touché." Brady smirked as Mimi entered the kitchen.

"Morning, where's the coffee?" As she came into the room and sat down at the island she sipped from Brady's coffee. Brady meanwhile went about making her a cup of coffee that included three tablespoons of sugar and milk. They switched cups with the ease of a couple who did this every morning. Philip noted the action with a raised brow but said nothing. "Mmm, thanks Brady. Where is everyone?"

"Shawn, Lucas, and Sami left earlier this morning to return to Salem this morning. They're going to wait until they hear something from us or when we get the children back. Angel and Patrick are still—,"

"We're up." Angel said interrupting as she and Patrick entered the kitchen. "Morning is that coffee?"

"Yes, are still breast feeding?" Mimi asked

"God, no. Eva has three baby teeth. She can eat solids now." Angel answered pulling out two cups as Patrick poured the hot liquid in them.

"Where's my father? He wasn't in his room."

"I was just telling Mimi and Brady; Xavier went to go meet up with Wolf?"

"Good dog." Brady mumbled under breath and was rewarded with hit on the arm by Mimi accordingly.

Narrowing his eyes once again at his nephew, Philip continued. "He said that they were going to pick up the plans and meet back here. What do you know about your father's friend?"

"Uncle Wolf is an artist. But, he used to be a Navy SEAL. He and my father grew up together. His mother and my grandmother were cousins."

Philip nodded, as he supposed that explained everything at least as far as to how Xavier knew the man. He'd have to have a check run on the man just to be sure. "As soon as they get here be ready to start making a plan of action. I need to make a quick call, help yourselves to whatever you want." Grabbing his cup off the counter he left the kitchen.

Brady watched Philip leave and then turned his attention to his new cousin and her husband. "So your Philip's secret daughter. I must say I'm shocked, I never suspected he had a love child."

Angel stared at Brady Black with slight bemusement. "Well, technically, I'm not a love child considering that I was conceived via in-vitro fertilization. I don't know that I'm that much of secret anymore. I mean everyone knows about me."

"True, I guess it really isn't a secret then. How long have you been married?"

"Two years this September." Patrick answered.

"I've always wondered how people could get married so young. I can't imagine being married at eighteen. Hell, I couldn't even walk then."

At the looks of surprise Mimi elaborated for Brady. "He was shot in the back by accident and was paralyzed for a while."

"A_while_, Mimi? I was paralyzed for eighteen months. I hardly call that a _while_. In any case, that's neither here nor there now is it? My point was that I just couldn't imagine being with anyone at that point in my life. Let alone ready for marriage at that age."

Mimi snorted as she went to the refrigerator and begin pulling out the ingredients to make an omelet. "Yeah, right then what was the stuff with Chloe?" She muttered under her breath. Glancing over to everyone standing around the island she smiled, "Omelet anyone?"

"Sure would you like any help?" Angel offered rolling up the sleeves of her shirt.

"Yes, you can chop the tomatoes and bell peppers." Mimi gave the other woman the vegetables, a knife and a small cutting board.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Brady asked putting his cup back on the counter to prop his hands on the island.

Mimi shrugged as she focused on cutting small pieces of the ham. "Nothing, what could I possible mean besides do you want an omelet?"

"Do you have any onions?" Patrick asked.

"Right side of the top shelf by the refrigerator. And you know that's not what I meant. I meant the thing you said about Chloe."

"You said you weren't interested in anyone. I was merely correcting that notion. While you maintain that there wasn't anything going on, I'm not blind and neither was Philip. It was obvious. We both noticed your thinly veiled arguments of four-play with Chloe. It was quite disgusting really. It was one thing when Chloe and Philip did it, but the two of you – utterly annoying."

Angel and Patrick seeming completely oblivious to the argument going on around them took over chopping the ham for the omelet as Mimi and Brady began yet another round.

"Oh please, that's way off base. I only became interested in Chloe after that fiasco of dance where you posted naked pictures of her." Brady accused pointing his finger at her.

Glaring in response, Mimi crossed her arms over her chest. "First of all, I didn't post naked pictures of Chloe at the dance Jan did. And second of all, I was there you and Chloe definitely had something going on before the dance."

"Mimi where's a skillet?" Patrick asked as he began looking through cabinets for a pan.

"Bottom right cabinet. Even Shawn and Belle noticed it for goodness sake and we both know how blind they are to things that aren't about them." Mimi challenged Brady as she leaned across the counter. Minutes later when a plate was placed before her with an omelet and piece of toast she remembered they weren't alone. "Thank you Patrick. I'll just take this into the lounge." With a quick smile at the other man she took her plate and cup of coffee before leaving with a swing of her hips.

"Omelet?" Angel asked of Brady who stared at Mimi in her wake.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry." He left the kitchen in the opposite direction without another word.

Shrugging Angel took her plated and settled down on a stool by the island. "Well, that was interesting."

"Talk about your unresolved sexual tension. He should just do her and get it over with." Patrick said as he took his seat next to his wife.

* * *

A couple hours later Xavier returned to the Kiriakis Compound with the layout for the Glen Echo Memorial Park. Everyone with the exception of Mimi was settled in Philip's library when he and the other man walked in.

"Sorry for the delay. I was on a conference call with my brother. I'm Philip Kiriakis." Philip said as he offered his hand to the tall broad shouldered man with a sun-warmed toffee complexion with glossy blue-black hair framing his face in waves and green-flecked hazel eyes. "Please call me Philip."

The man took his hand in a firm handshake. "Wolf."

"Of course, I understand you were able to get the blueprints for the Park at the Department of Parks and Services. Did you have any trouble?" Philip gestured for the man to unroll the blueprints out on the table.

"No, no problems. My son interns at a very prominent architectural firm here in the city. But, I'm sure you already knew that." Wolf took out the plans but paused in unrolling them.

Philip frowned confused. "I'm sorry, I don't understand." He glanced from Wolf to Xavier. "How's that?"

"My son, Kieran he's dating your daughter Lily. I thought she would have told you that he works at Beagle, Case, & Associates." Wolf answered.

"Kieran is your son? I thought your name was Wolf."

"It is Wolf; specifically Little Wolf, a name given to me by my mother's people, the Choctaw. But, my Christian name Zion, Zion O'Neal. And no one calls me Zion except for my wife." Wolf acquiesced.

"Tracy is a _mite_ stubborn about that." Xavier offered as an explanation.

"As interesting as this meet-and-greet session is I'd like to take a look at the plans if we can." Brady said gesturing to the rolled plans on the table as moved closer to see them.

Wolf and Xavier shared a quick look before moving to unroll the sheaves of paper on the table. "Is everyone here? I thought there were two couples?" Wolf asked as he scanned the room seeing only Angel and Patrick but no other woman.

"There is, Mimi said she'd be right down. I think she was talking to Rex." Philip answered recalling that he'd past the woman on the way down to the library. Just then Mimi strolled through the doorway.

"Sorry, I was filling my husband in on everything. Mimi Lockhart," she offered her hand to the tall husband man in the room.

"Zion O'Neal. But, please call me Wolf." He said taking her hand in a firm handshake.

Mimi smiled at him charmingly. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. — Wolf. I thought you looked familiar. Your son is a nice young man." She took her hand away and moved to stand by Philip. "Please don't let me interrupt. Let's see the plans."

"Yes, lets." Wolf unrolled the plans and pulled a thin pointer out of his pocket. "When X called me I went ahead and drove down to the park and took a look around the grounds of the park. There are several areas which are closed off due to renovations but are still viable. X told me that the kidnapper wanted to meet you at carousel, which is located here." He tapped a spot on the plans. "I checked and it's one of the locations still being renovated which means that it's the most accessible." He turned the page and tapped to two places on the plans. "These are the two pathways they both lead in different directions. I checked out the location myself and its completely out in the open, there are no windows or doors, just sheets of plastic to protect it from the elements. It's the perfect place to meet ideally because you just can't be surprised."

"What about the other areas?" Brady asked as he looked down at first page of the plans. "Why is it the most vulnerable area?"

"There no other locations in the park that are open. Most of the buildings are completely closed off."

"So they want to see us coming." Patrick suggested from his position behind Angel with his hands on her shoulders.

"Exactly."

"How do you suggest we get a heads up on them?" Mimi asked wrapping her arms around herself as she stared at Wolf.

"I suggest we sneak in the back door," Wolf started. "You know they have the most vulnerable location for the meeting place because they want to be able to see you coming. Since its an easy location to see from any area, we can assume that the big boss will be watching everything from a higher elevation point which would be here." He turned another page of the plans and circled another area. "It's a loading dock that can be accessed without someone actually having to go to the park. It has a separate entrance altogether and completely overlooks the entire park." Standing up he slipped the pointer back in his pocket. "If you want my advice, I'd say you better get there and survey the basic area from a prime vintage point on the opposite side of the park."

"All right then we should load-up and head out ASAP. Everyone go pack a bag, only the essentials for yourself and your kids. We want to be there by 4 so we can stake out the place for tonight. Meet back here in an hour." Xavier ordered and then watched as everyone filed out without complaint except for Wolf and Philip. He turned to Philip. "So Kiriakis what do you know about Joe McDougal?" He asked pulling a file that Elena had sent to him earlier that morning.

* * *

By noon the next day everything was in place for the meeting with the kidnappers. Together with Wolf's help, Xavier had managed to secure a stakeout location on the opposite side of the park, directly across from the Glen Echo Park property line. While they wouldn't be as close as the would-be-kidnapper they'd have a bird's eye view of the carousel location, as well as the entrance to the park. At approximately 5:30 they were ready to shift things into high gear.

"Okay we're going to run through each piece of your equipment to make sure everyone knows what's going on before you head out." Xavier said as he stood around the table with a black vest in his hands. Everyone else was perched on the sidelines watching.

"Philip will be wearing this vest and it's important that he always remain in front of you at all times."

"Why?" Brady asked.

"Because I've installed in camera insider here," he showed the main inside pocket of the vest before turning it to the front tapping the button on the pocket. "The lens is here. It will let us see everything that's going on in front of Philip as it happens. Philip will also be wearing a two-way earpiece so that we're in direct contact at all times. Anything he hears will be heard by me." He handed the vest to Philip and watched the other man slip it on. "Should there be any trouble I've also put a tracking device in the vest and on the car. Wolf and I installed cameras on the surrounding base of the park. I don't expect there to be any foul play but if there is I've put the proper accoutrements in the car." He tossed the keys the Black Expedition to Patrick. "Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good then let's get the show on the road."

Brady, Patrick, and Philip headed toward the doorway. Philip saw Mimi and his daughter waiting at the doorway so he went ahead to the car to leave the two couples alone. "I'll be in the car."

"Be careful, Patrick," she cupped her husband's face between her palms. "Don't do anything to get yourself hurt and bring our daughter home." Angel leaned up and kissed her husband.

Patrick pulled her hands away. "I won't." He brushed a kiss against his wife's lips before heading out the screen door after Philip.

Mimi stood across the room watching Brady. She wanted to tell him good luck, to bring their baby boy home safely, but she couldn't. Everything was happening so fast, it was all so confusing, she just didn't understand it. She couldn't.

Brady turned to leave the house but as he got to the doorway Mimi called him.

"Brady … be careful," was all she said before leaving the room once again.

Brady sighed and left the house getting in the car behind Philip and Patrick.

Minutes later the men stood by the Expedition Philip making sure the earpiece and vest had everything ready for Xavier. Brady handling a cover that Mimi had given him of Xander's and Patrick with a baby harness strapped to his chest. Brady paused briefly to look at Patrick securing the harness to chest.

"Please tell me you've never worn that in public."

"What?" Patrick asked and Brady pointed to the harness. "Of course, I have. It's just a baby harness. You've really got to get it together, man. It frees up your hands and allows you to run without jostling the baby." Patrick replied shaking his head at the other man. "Are we ready?"

Philip didn't answer him at first as he scanned his surroundings briefly. "Yes, let's go." He led the way across the parking lot and over the small bridge at least twenty feet above the ground. Through the earpiece Xavier directed him towards the right. "This way."

* * *

Above the park in the loading dock, a young woman with red hair secured at her nape watched the three men navigate their way through the park to the Carousel though binoculars.

"Game, Set, Match!" She pulled the binoculars down and returned to the black limo where her tall associate stood waiting for her with the door opened. "Darling, I do believe it's time for us to make our move. Tell them to make the switch as promised. When you've got the file meet at the house." She slipped into the limo and poured herself a glass of champagne. She swirled the liquid around in the glass. "I do so love it when things go as planned. Don't you Charlie?"

The boy sat across from her merely reading his book. He ignored her for all intents and purposes. "When am I going home?"

"That depends, dear Charlie. That depends on your mother so we'll see just yet."

* * *

"Mr. Kiriakis, so glad that you could arrive on time and without the Tigress as promised. Now, if you'll just hand over the file everything will go as promised." The tall blonde man said as he stood on the opposite side of the Carousel.

_Ask to see the children._

"I'd like to see the children, first." Philip declared.

"Of course," the man snapped his finger and a man appeared in the doorway carrying a baby seat in one hand and the small hand of a Xander in the other hand as they walked into the room. "The file Mr. Kiriakis. And then Mr. Black and Mr. Cabrea may claim their children."

Nodding Philip moved to the center of the room and pulled the file out from under his vest. He held it out for the man to take. The man walked to the center of the room and grasped the file. As soon as he had it he gave orders for the man to release Alex's hand and place the baby seat on the floor. Calmly backing away until he was at the door the man said. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Kiriakis. Please give the Tigress my regards tell her we'll be in touch." And with that he left.

He wasn't gone for a full minute before Patrick ran to unbuckle his daughter from the baby seat. Recognizing her father immediately, Eva smacked her hands on his cheeks and squealed. "I missed you to Eva." Patrick said as he kissed on his daughter's hands.

Alex on the other hand was bewildered by the man who had his blankee yet wasn't his Daddy. Anxiously, he tucked his hand in his pocket he stared wide-eyed as the tall man bent down to his head offering him the blanket.

"Here Xander, you're Mommy told me to give this to you. She said it was your favorite blanket." Brady started when he realized that his son was scared of him. As to the little boy he was just another unfamiliar adult who wasn't his Mommy or Daddy.

Alex started to take the blanket when he spotted his Uncle Philip behind the other man. He knew that if his Uncle Philip was there than his Mommy and Daddy weren't far behind. He quickly ran past the man in front of him and went to Philip. "Unca Filp."

Philip was surprised to have Xander run over to him. He leaned down and caught the little boy lifting him into his arms. Feelings of relief passed through him as he held the small body in his arms. "I bet you missed your Mommy."

Alex nodded solemnly. "I wanna see Mommy."

"I'll take you to her." Philip promised as he looked past the child to see Brady watch then longingly before storming out of the room.

**Please tell me what you think I really appreciate the feedback good or bad!**


	12. 12

**Author's Note**: Finally after more months than I want to count, I've got another chapter out. Just in case anyone is wondering yes, this story and SOTH is going to be finished. I am a less than month away from graduating from college and while I intend and try to get my fics out more often, I've been getting busy lately with work and school. But, I do promise that this will be finished. Also, I have a slight warning for this chapter in that there is a character death at the end.

So now on with the fic.

**Chapter Twelve**

Mimi stood outside on the porch waiting for the car to pull up with her baby in it. She wrapped her arms around herself watching for the first sign of the car. She and Angel had anxiously watched the monitor as the children had been brought out to everyone. Once she saw her baby's hand released and sent to his father she headed out to wait him.

As she waited in the breezy night she took the time to think about the last few arduous days. Everything had happened so quickly and was finally coming to past.

When a black Escalade pulled into the stone driveway, Mimi released the breath she's been holding. "They're here." She said softly to herself and then once more, this time loud enough for the remaining occupants of the house to hear. She bounded off the porch, fast as she could. The driver's door opened with Brady coming out from behind the wheel. He barely gave her a glance as he handed her the soft baby blanket.

"Here." And then he was walking past her without a spare word.

"Brady, what—?"She started before she heard the sweetest sound she had ever heard.

"Momma, Momma." Xander called out as he was put on the ground to run over to her.

She bent down to pick up squeezing him tightly as Philip came over to her. "Oh Xander, I missed you so much."

"I mis'ted you Momma. Momma I mis'ted you lots and lots." Xander replied his small arms wrapped around Mimi's neck as she kissed his soft head comfortingly as he put his head down on her shoulder. Lifting his head up he looked at his mother's questioning. "And I's not goin' a'way 'gain. Right momma?"

Having to actually see the fear in her child's eyes made Mimi hold him tighter as tears started to well up before she could stop herself. She shook her head and cleared her throat as she started back for the porch she answered him, her voice cracking. "No baby you're not going anywhere."

Philip watched Mimi go back into the house as his daughter looked over her nine-month baby in Patrick's arms.

"Things didn't go well with Black?" A southern drawl asked of Philip.

"Not exactly, Xander didn't recognize him for obvious reasons and when he approached, Xander bailed over to me."

Xavier nodded as he followed Philip up to the porch. "Why don't we give them a few minutes? Your brother sent you something that he found in the archives. He said you'd know what it is."

"Sure, lead the way." Philip walked down the hallway to the room they had set up as command center. He waited patiently as Xavier booted up another laptop and scrolled down the screen before double-clicking on a document and turning the screen over to Philip.

He sat down in the chair and read the scanned document on the screen. Pressing the down arrow he read through the first few pages of the document. "Did Lucas say where he found this?"

Xavier shook his head. "All he told me was that it was in the archival record under Gemini. He said that you would know what that meant."

Philip nodded.

Xavier inclined his head to the side. "Do you know what the Gemini project was?"

Philip rubbed his head but nodded once more in affirmative. "Not exactly. I vaguely recall my father working with Stefano on this. It was a plan that was going to help bring the Dimera prestige back to Salem. It was supposed to go down after Stefano faked his own death and before Andre arrived back in town."

"Why didn't Stefano go through with it?"

"Stefano learned that Tony had children, a set of twins living in Europe. He claimed them to ensure they had the best of everything, schools, homes, education."

Xavier nodded. "These children being, Rex and his twin sister?"

"Got it in a one, from what I can recall, their existence brought an end to the Gemini plan."

"Do you happen know why?"

Philip shrugged as he sat back in the chair. "I have no idea. But, it does confuse me even more," he paused frowning. "You see, my father and Stefano became business partners when I still in grad school. Back then I only held an executive level position so I wasn't privy to most of their plans. But, then neither was Rex. At the time he wasn't even interested in working for Stefano then in fact he and Cassie went as far as to go to Italy and disappeared for a while to get out from under their grandfather's radar. They dropped contact with Stefano and André for several months. But, I guess he must have caved, maybe being without the Dimera money changed his tune. When he came back, he immediately started working for his grandfather. Yet, he only came on board with Titan and Phoenix Enterprises after my father died." He leaned up to read the last few pages of the document on the screen. "This can't be right."

"What is it?" Xavier asked crossing his arms as he leaned back against the desk.

"I'm not exactly sure. It looks like an agreement between my father and Rex to keep some property." Philip scrolled down the document. "The contract doesn't say what the property was to be used for; in fact it barely mentions it at all. But, this can't be right."

"What is it? Does the property not exist?"

"No," Philip sighed. "That isn't the problem."

"Then what is it?"

"It's Rex."

"Come again."

"To my knowledge, my father never met Rex. In all the years he and Stefano worked together, he never even had a conversation with the man. Hell, Rex wasn't even on the radar, as far as business goes, until _after_ my father died so when did they meet?"

Xavier thoughtfully recalled the conversation he had with Elena on the island before he left. She firmly believed that Rex was in this up to his eyeballs and though there had been no hard evidence to back up that statement, other than her gut. Now it seems as though she may be right after all. "So if you don't know what the contract is for do you know someone who might?"

"My sister-in-law, Nicole, was heavily _involved_ with my father on all business matters so she might have more insight into this."

"Nicole Walker, Brandon Walker's sister?" Xavier questioned as he recalled that Brandon Walker was married to Alexandra Dimera.

Philip's brow rose in amusement. "I see you did a thorough background check."

"Of course."

"Yes, Nicole Walker. She and my brother Austin live in London. I'd imagine she'd probably know better than anyone if Rex and my father had any dealings with one another. I'll call her when we get back to New York." Philip rose from his seat.

"And in the meantime?" Xavier posed as he watched the other man shut down the computer.

"In the meantime, I don't know about you but I for one am very interested in meeting my granddaughter." Philip said as he passes by the other man on his way out of the room.

Left on his own Xavier sighed once before following Philip, reminding himself that he hadn't met his granddaughter yet either.

* * *

After calling Rex and letting him speak with their son briefly Mimi had settled Xander down for a nap before she went searching for Brady. She found him on the back porch leaning against the wooden railing.

"Brady," she started as she braced herself back against the sliding glass door she'd just stepped out of. "I wanted to thank you for going to get our son. I…I know things didn't exactly workout like you thought they would but, you did bring him back to me. And I realize that wasn't easy for you." She paused frowning, as he still hadn't responded to anything she'd said. In fact, he hadn't even moved since she came out. It was like she was talking to herself instead or trying to talk to him. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you thank you." She turned ready to back inside when he finally spoke.

"Do you really believe that I did that just for you?" She turned back toward him. "I'm his father Mimi."

"I know that Brady, I've never denied that you are his biological father." She said shaking her head.

"You may not have denied it, but you certainly never bothered to correct anyone's assumption that he was Rex's." He raised his point crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's because it takes more than DNA to make someone a parent Brady. Look, I know this was hard for you and I really am trying to be sympathetic to your feelings." Her eyes met his impassioned blue ones imploring him to understand. "But, the reality of this is that to Alex you are just Philip's nephew nothing more. He doesn't know you as his father, you're not the one he's called Daddy for the last three years. Rex is his father in every other way but biologically. I'm sorry if that hurts you but it's the way things are." She turned again to leave but Brady stopped her by putting his hand over hers to stop her from opening the sliding door. Barricading her between his arms, his chest pressing against her back.

"Did you honestly think it was going to be that simply? That just because you say and will it so that I was just going to walk away from my son so he can continue to call someone else _Daddy?_Well Meems, I have news for you," Mimi flinched at the soft menace in his tone and the feel of his warm breath bearing on her neck. "Things just don't work out that way." He took his hands off hers to grasp her shoulder, turning her roughly back to face him.

"Just what the hell does that mean Brady?" Mimi asked sweeping hair out of her face. "You think that after four years of not having _any_ influence in your son's life I'm just going to let you waltz into his life and disrupt everything that he's ever known." She snorted indignantly, her eyes blazing with emerald fire. "That's not going to happen. I won't let it."

"How do you propose to stop me? Because as far as I know I haven't given up my rights and in a court of law that still means something."

"A court of law?" She put her hands on her hips. "Are you planning to sue for custody?" She asked incredulously.

"Yes, joint custody." Mimi's mouth dropped open in shock and then closed. Brady pushed away from the door. "Ah, come on Meems you can't be surprised. I told you as much before. I want to be a part of my son's life. I want him to know who his real father is."

"Brady, we discussed this we agreed that when he was older—,"

He raised a hand to stop her from speaking. "No, we didn't agree to anything. I realize that this is going to change things but honestly I think it's for the better."

The shock had worn off as Mimi once again composed herself. "Brady, you have to know that you won't win."

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you. But, you needn't worry about me I'm not in the least; I fully expect to win Mimi." He opened the door. "Oh and by the by if you're pregnant from our little _tryst_ in Florida, I'll want joint custody for him or her, too." With that he left her brewing on the rim of his news.

* * *

Chloe sat down in the seat across from Elena after going to check on her children on the private jet. Nicky was asleep and Lily was busy listening music while reading a book. Both children were well accustomed to traveling by jet to get to where they needed to go.

"I'm surprised Rex didn't join us on the trip back to New York. One would think he would want to see his son badly."

"Well, he said that he had some business to finish up before he could come back." Chloe explained not finding anything peculiar about Rex's actions despite the obvious implication with the situation as it was. Elena seemed to accept her explanation and went back to typing away on her lap top. "Can I ask you a personal question?" Chloe asked taking her date book out of her lap and placing in the seat beside her.

Elena barely glanced up as she typed away on her computer. "Sure, about what?"

"About your sister and her relationship with my husband." Elena looked up surprised. "I mean, I know what Philip has told me about their relationship—that they were friends. But, I was wondering what she told you about him?" Elena set her lap top aside.

"I can understand your curiosity about my sister and Philip. I was in the same situation myself with Xavier when I found out about Patrick." She paused thoughtfully. "But, don't you think it would be better to ask _him_?"

Chloe considered her question as she sipped from her glass of water. "I did ask him and let's just say that I'm interested in another perspective."

"Fair enough. What exactly did you want to know? Or did you just want me to subjectively tell you what I know?"

"I wanted to know more of what your sister, Tara was like? When I look at Lily I know I can see some of myself in her as well as Philip. And with Angel it's the same except that I see just Philip. I guess I want to know what parts of Tara are in Angel?"

Elena pondered the question carefully. It was clear to her at least with her initial view of Philip and Chloe's relationship that there was some tension with Angel's apparent existence. Whether that had more to do with the fact that Philip had never told his wife that he had another daughter or the fact that Angel just popped into their lives, Elena wasn't sure. What she was sure about was that Chloe hadn't rejected her niece; she'd simply accepted her without question and was now trying to reconcile with herself the decision to do so. "Tara was my older sister by five years. Angel resembles her, except for her hair. Tara she had blonde hair and blue eyes. It's kind of weird they have the same features yet don't. If Tara were alive now, I think they could even pass for sisters." Elena smiled at the thought. "I-we were very close when growing up and after my parents died when I was eighteen we became closer."

"In fact, when I got recruited in the FBI in my last year of grad school she encouraged me to go. She knew that it would mean me being gone weeks on some investigation or another and neither of us wanted to be without the other close by, but she realized that this was my dream and she didn't want me to give it up. We were as different as night and day in that respect. She knew she wanted to be nurse since she was a child and I wanted nothing more than to tote a gun around and bring down the bad guys. She saved lives and in a way I did too but Tara … she _really_ saved lives, you know." Elena's grey eyes were clouded with an unveiled emotion. Shaking her head she cleared her mind of what ever she had been thinking. "I still remember the day she told me she was pregnant. She was so excited, so focused on the fact that this baby was going to be hers to love. And I was so angry; I threaten to find Philip and make him marry her at gun point. She just laughed and told me that it wasn't like that, that Philip was a great guy but I couldn't do that especially not after what happened at Titan."

Chloe's ears perked up at the mention of Titan. "Titan? I thought you were in the FBI?"

"I was. My primary area of expertise was in foreign affairs particularly espionage." Elena debated how much she should tell Chloe especially since she didn't doubt for a minute that the other woman was likely to share whatever she learned with her husband. It was all bound to come out anyway it merely depended on how and when. "Have you ever been stuck between rock and hard place? Where no matter what you did things would end badly?"

"Yes, yes I believe I have." Chloe's mind raced.

"Well I was in one of those places when I met Victor Kiriakis. I was undercover at Titan in task force mission. My superior and partner at the time was playing both sides. I didn't find out until it was almost too late and it was going to be blamed on me, it took some extra fast footwork on my part to go above their heads and let Victor in on the investigation. Then it was a simple matter of letting him and his associates _handle_ it for me."

Chloe leaned forward. "What do you mean he handled it for you?"

Elena grimace slightly. "Oh it was just as I said. Victor not only managed to clear up the whole mess with in Titan but he also without my knowledge _handled_ the situation with my big sis. He'd known all along about my partner and just waited for me to come to him and I did. I just fell right in line with his plans and unwittingly led him to Tara, who he then sought out and threaten both her and her baby."

Snorting, Chloe sat back. "That sounds like Victor's MO. Use people to get what he wants and then threaten them. I take then that he's the reason, Tara ran away?"

"Yes, with Xavier's and my help of course. We were able to have her relocated before Angel's birth. Tara was a great mother, she doted on Angel. Even though, she always told me that she and Philip were just friends I always thought that there was more to their relationship than that. She told me once that the she didn't leave because of Victor but for Philip. She believed that if she stayed that some day Victor would find a way to use Angel against her father and she wouldn't allow that. She said that she knew that Philip would make a great father."

Chloe nodded again thinking that she had made the same decision herself when Lily had been a baby. She wanted nothing more than to call Philip and tell him that he had a beautiful daughter and they could be together as one big happy family. But, then reality had settled in and she knew she couldn't do that, not with Victor in the picture. She had reached the same conclusions as Tara all those years ago. Though it saddened her, it also went a long way to explain Philip's initial anger at Lily's existence being kept from him. He had already lost one daughter and the thought that another had been kept from him, it was probably unbearable for him. Yes, she understood his motives now a great deal more than she had early and would tell him so when she got back to New York.

"He's a great father. I have to admire Tara for her decision I know it how hard it was for me. Philip, thankfully, can be a very understanding man. I'm quite certain he doesn't hold any grudges over what your sister did. In the end, it worked out well for everyone now didn't it?"

Elena arched a fine brow in surprise. "Yes, I suppose it did." Then she pointedly brought her laptop to sit on her lap, effectively ending the conversation.

Chloe closed her eyes and lay back against the headrest. Her last thought wondering if Philip knew about Elena's connection to Victor.

* * *

_On Eixel …_

Stefano guided the wheelchair down the corridors around his home to his office. It had been several hours since Chloe and Tigress had left for home. He expected to hear from his granddaughter in a few hours once she got home. But, in the meantime, he had a few things of his own to do as Alexandra would be expecting a call from him. Some days it still amazed him that after years of being on his own that he now had people who loved and cared for him as much as he did them.

As he approached the door to his library he heard voices. One voice he knew as Rex, who was still on the island, he couldn't place the other voice. "Recando, who is it that you have with you?"

He asked as he guided his chair into the room. He immediately recognized his granddaughter, Rex's sister sitting on the sofa with her legs curled beside her and next to her sat a young boy, and she smiled at something the other man was saying. A tall muscular blonde man stood by the bookshelf hands crossed in front of him. "Cassandra … I didn't expect you."

Cassie turned toward the older man in the wheelchair, the smile still apparent on her face as she rose to her full height of 5'8". "Stefano, it's wonderful to see you." She leaned down and brushed a kiss against his cheek.

"What is this _Stefano_ business? What happened to _Grandfather_?" He took her hand and kissed it, noticing for the first time the slim gold band and emerald cut diamond ring on it. "What's this? Have you run off and gotten married without telling me?"

Cassie gazed back at Rex, who merely raised a brow in her direction as if to say explain it. "No, Granddad' I haven't _just_ gotten married. I've been married for several years now." She replied taking her hand away from the older man as she walked to stand beside Rex who leaned against the desk.

Stefano looked bewildered at Rex for an answer but the younger man shrugged and pulled Cassie to stand beside him. "Rex what is the meaning of this? Did you know?"

"Of course he knew he was there after all. But, let's talk about that later. I want to introduce you to my guests first." She moved to stand behind the sofa near the boy who had yet to say the word. "This is Charlie."

Stefano squinted as he looked at the child. He was several years older than Nicky but younger than Lily, he figured the boy was around nine or ten years old. There was something familiar about the child but he couldn't put his finger on just what it was about him. "Is he yours?"

"Of course not. I don't have any children. It's a little hard to do without a man around." Swinging a side glance in Rex's direction, Cassie laughed heartily. "Besides, why would I ruin such a perfect figure?" She waved a hand over her body, ruffling her long blonde locks in the process.

It was then that Stefano noticed that not only did his granddaughter get married but she had apparently changed her hair as well. "You changed the color of your hair again, Cassandra?"

Cassie returned to stand beside Rex once again, tilting her head sideways so that the locks fell across her face, shielding it as she winked at Rex. "Actually, I let the dye run out. After dying it red and brown all these years I decided it was time to let it return it to its natural color."

Stefano frowned but was momentarily distracted as the tall blonde man as walked over to Cassie and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and watched as the man left the room.

"Who was that?" Stefano asked unease setting up a permanent home in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh, that was Jacques, my right hand man."

"Is he your husband?"

Cassie sighed rolling her eyes. "We're back to that again? No, he's not my husband. He's a bodyguard, of sorts." Rex pulled out a black case and took a cigarette out, lighting it.

Stefano frowned again but this time at Rex. "Recando, since when do you smoke? It's such a disgusting habit."

Rex didn't response but merely blew out a puff of smoke. "He's smoked as long as I've known him. But, he's gotten much better at restraining himself, he used to be a proverbial chimney. Isn't that right, Sully?" Cassie replied.

"Sully?" Stefano glanced from Rex to Cassie bewildered by all this strange double talk that Cassie seemed to be doing. "What is going on here?"

"I suppose we should just come out and tell 'im luv. It's rather tiring playing all these games, Ashley." Rex answered finally in a perfect British brogue too flawless to be anything but real. He stubbed his cigarette out and held out his hand for her.

Stefano's brows rose in surprise.

Cassie gave Rex a small smile. "Yes, I do suppose it does get rather tiresome. After all it's not as though anyone who matters will ever know." She gave him her hand and he pulled her to him, securing his arm about her waist his warm lips met hers in succulent kiss. She wrapped one arm around his neck.

Stefano moved his wheelchair in a flash and pulled at Cassie's free arm succeeding in pulling them apart. But not taking Cassie from out of Rex's grasp. "Recando, what are you doing She is your sister!"

Cassie giggled pulling her arm from Stefano. She delightedly clapped her hands together once before returning fully into Rex's open arms for a quick kiss before they both turned to look at Stefano. "But, you see we aren't really brother and sister. In fact my name isn't really Cassandra Dimera and this isn't Rex."

Stefano glared at his grandchildren. "Stop this nonsense at once. What foolishness do you speak? Of course you are Rex and Cassandra. I brought from the orphanage myself."

Cassie's merriment sobered immediately. "Yes, you did take Rex and Cassie from the orphanage but they were young lads then of only twelve years old. But, how long was it before you saw then again?" She posed the question as she pushed herself away from Rex to sit on the desk, crossing her legs. "Ten years. Ten years had passed before you saw them again how can you be so sure? The truth is that Rex and Cassandra Dimera have been gone for years. They were killed in a house fire several years ago while visiting two old chums from the Bristol school. Didn't you ever wonder why Rex had a sudden change of heart after he came back from his _vacation_? Why after all of the sudden after years of denouncing your work he wanted into the fold?"

Stefano thought back, all those years ago. He did recall being slightly surprised at Rex's sudden interest in all the Dimera business after years of refusing to have any connection with it. But, in the end he'd ignored it thinking that it meant he'd have someone to carry on the Dimera name. "Who are you?"

"Tsk, tsk, Stefano for not figuring it out sooner. Although, I do admit it gave me a lot of pleasure to know that we fooled a criminal master mind such as yourself." The faux Cassie replied. "As for whom we are well you can call me Ashley, Ashley _McDougal_ Sullivan. And playing the part of Recando '_Rex'_, Dimera is my husband, Douglas Sullivan or Sully if you will."

"You have gone through a lot of trouble to take the place of my grandchildren. Tell me what did you expect to gain from taking their lives?"

Ashley's clear blue eyes twinkled as she glanced over at Sully nee Rex. "How about good old fashioned revenge? Is that a good enough reason for you?"

"Revenge! Revenge for what? And what of the child?" Stefano raised a hand in the direction of the child sitting silently on the sofa. "Is he apart of your revenge?"

"Yes he is. He is here to punish those who murdered my father, his mother, Victor Kiriakis, and you." She slid off the desk and stalked toward the older man in the wheelchair.

"Murder, I have not murdered anyone." Stefano scoffed vehemently, although he was uncertain whether she was telling him the truth. "I don't even know who your supposed father is you foolish girl."

With her blue eyes blazing she looked back at Sully, pursuing her lips into a frown. "I already told you who my father was old man. Maybe you don't remember him because you've had so many men killed that they all run into each other. But, maybe this will help you to remember," she raised her hand and struck Stefano across the face.

Stefano merely laughed as he turned back to look at her. "Tell me, little girl what that was your idea of coercion then you disappoint me."

Breathing deeply she raised her hand to strike him again and wipe the smirk off Stefano's face when Sully came up beside her and grabbed her hand.

"Luv, don't play his game. Remember we still have work to do." He took her other to his and kissed the inside of her wrist, his green eyes pouring into her blue ones. He gestured to where Charlie sat on the sofa. "Let me handle this, you just go sit and watch." He cupped her cheek and pressed a kiss against it before releasing her to take a seat.

Following Sully's direction Ashley sat down on the sofa next to Charlie. He raised both hands to his right eye.

Turning back he grabbed Stefano's hand on the wheelchair, holding it into place as he stooped down until he was eye level with the older man yet with his head down. "A great man once told me that you could tell a lot about a man by looking into his eyes." Slowly, his head rose with a smirk as he peered into Stefano's eyes. Only where his eyes had once been a warm shade of brown, his right eye was a cold green. "Contacts," he tapped the corner of eye. "Sad isn't that contacts is the only modification that I needed." Rising to his full height he pulled another cigarette from its case, tapped it twice on the case then lit it.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning with a bloke named Joseph McDougal. Good ole Joey was a FBI agent with twenty-two years of service under his belt when he was placed with a new agent to lead a top investigation in an undercover task force at Titan Industries. But, dear Joe wasn't on the up and up, you see, he played around a little dapping with let's just say less than worthy folk. But he was too trusting and was double-crossed by his partner and his man on the inside, Victor Kiriakis. A hit was placed on him." Sully drew out a puff of smoke as he flicked his cigarette out in the ashtray on the desk. "He died shortly thereafter."

"What does that have to do with me?" Stefano asked but he already knew the answer. Obviously the secret he and Victor had shared which both men had promised to take to their grave was no longer a secret.

"I think you know Stefano. More importantly, I think you know how and why he really died and it wasn't at the hands of the Moroni family. There was no mob hit, what there was is you and Victor Kiriakis. The two of you planned his death and made it look like a mob hit. I was there the day my father died. I held him as he held his last breath and I promised that I would make all those responsible pay." Ashley said as she stood again glaring down at the old man. "And I have tenfold. First I befriended your insipid granddaughter at school. They were so trusting, so starved for attention. When I invited them to Italy for the summer they were oh so willing to come."

"Are they dead?"

Smirking Ashley answered, "What do you think, old man?"

"You bitch," Stefano swore.

"Now, now Grandfather, you have no one to blame but yourself. After all Sully and I would never have been able to take their places if you hadn't been so interested in getting revenge on Salem that you never bothered to visit them in ten years. And they helped too by keeping themselves so sheltered that no one even knew the difference when we took over. No one not even Victor Kiriakis knew until the end."

"What do you mean? Victor died of natural causes."

"Some of my best work, no one suspected a thing. But, then no one looks for poison unless they know what they are looking for."

"You murdered Victor?"

"She poisoned Victor." Sully corrected. "And the best part is he never knew until it was too late to do anything about it. Plus, it only takes an hour for the poison to work its way out of the bloodstream. Tis' unfortunate though that Victor had the foresight the hide the contract before we could get it from him or this charade would have ended seven years ago. However, the stars seem to be inline now." Sully said as Ashley's tall blonde companion arrived at the doorway.

"Ms. Sullivan, it's time."

Ashley nodded. "Yes, of course. Alright Jacques take the boy. I wouldn't want him to see this." The muscle bound man nodded as he entered the room and grabbed the boy by the arm, pulling him off of the sofa. They headed to the doorway but stopped as the boy paused and turned around.

"My mom will make you pay for this." The child warned.

Smirking, Ashley merely raised a brow the petulant child. "Your Mommy will have to find us first and she has yet to do that." She looked up at Jacques. "Secure him on the jet and tell the pilot to be ready to leave as soon as we get there." Ashley said to the man as Sully busied himself by pulling out a 9mm gun.

Jacques pulled the boy of the room.

Sully followed behind them and closed the door. Seconds later a single gun shot rang out from the room.

Then the door opened, Ashley and Sully exited the room together. "I think that went rather well."

"Yes, it did. Two down, one to go." The couple calmly walked out of the house.

Back in the library, sitting regally in his wheelchair except for the whole on his temple with a small thread of blood running down his face. As the phone began to ring, it went unanswered as the once great Stefano Dimera, the Phoenix was dead.

* * *

A/N 2: Okay so I killed Stefano but it had to happen guys for the story to work out. If anyone is confused by the revelation that Rex and Cassie are dead, don't worry the next few chapters will explain everything.

Please tell me what you think, your reactions good or bad!


	13. 13

**Author's Note: **So I finally got this chapter out it's been sitting on my computer for the last two days because I've been too busy post. But, now its out and I'm glad in such I wanted to let everyone know this story only seven more chapters left and will if everything goes as planned be finished before the end of year. Chapter 14 is planned currently waiting to be written but don't expect until next month as I recently started a new job and its cutting down on my writing time. As always check my website for the most update information about new chapters.

**Chapter Thirteen**

Alexandra "Lexie" Walker was rarely ever surprised by anything her father did. After years of anguishing over his alleged criminal behavior, she simply accepted it and him. Ever since his return to her life, seven years earlier, their bond had been strengthening greatly. As such, they talked on the phone for a couple hours each day. Which is why when she called the previous day and the phone had simply rung in her ear she had known that something was not right.

"I'm telling you Brandon something is wrong. Father would never just let the phone go unanswered. And besides that he would have told me if he was planning to go away." She'd told her husband as he watched her stuff clothes in an overnight bag for the airport.

Brandon had sighed knowing there was going to be no way he could deter his wife. "So when do we leave?"

As they arrived on the island she didn't bother wait for Brandon to get out of the helicopter. She went ahead and left the helipad without leaving Brandon to catch-up. Lexie was surprised to learn that no one on staff was there to meet them. "That's odd; usually Father's his staff is more prompt."

"Maybe he gave them the night off?" Brandon suggested as he finally caught up with her as they walked the long corridor to the gated main entrance.

"That's not likely Brandon. It's not the house staff I'm referring to; I'm talking about his personal staff." Lexie replied as she put in the entry code to open the gate. After the couple entered the elusive home she left Brandon's side, leaving him to secure the door as she did a quick sweep of the house.

"Ms. Brooks is not here." She called leaving the kitchen after searching for the housekeeper.

"Well maybe Stefano gave her time off. It's not exactly unheard of for him to give her a day off." Brandon replied as he came up behind his wife who was distractedly lost in thought. He grabbed her arm and pulled back against him.

Lexie sighed leaning into him, closing her eyes. "I know you're right, Brandon. But, in the seven years since he's been back have you ever known him to miss my call?" She turned in the shelter of his arms.

"No, he's never missed a call."

"Exactly, I just have this feeling that something is wrong."

"Hey, if you feel that way we'll just find Stefano so that he can put your mind at ease." He suggested as his hands slid down to her hands raising one to his mouth to kiss the palm soothingly.

Despite the anxiety she felt, Lexie smiled. "I knew there was a reason I married you."

"And here I thought it was my charming wit." He released her hand as she started down the hallway toward the bedrooms. He followed behind her obediently.

"Oh wait we need to call Stephanie to let her know we got here, okay." She paused in the corridor.

Brandon nodded. "So, you make the call and I'll see if Stefano is his rooms."

Lexie agreed and turned back down the hallway toward the library. The door was closed when she got there. Opening the door, she was immediately struck by the odor in the room. "Good Lord, what is that?" She scrunched her nose waving a hand in front of her face when she spotted her father's chair. "Father …" He didn't answer. "Daddy," she whispered walking toward the wheelchair. She turned the chair around and screamed. "Nooo …" The stench that she smelled was her father's dead body.

* * *

Philip waited at the doorway to his home for the limo coming up the driveway, knowing it held his wife and children inside. As soon as the car came to a stop, before the driver even had a chance to get out the door opened and out came Lily. He started off the steps to meet her half-way.

"Hey Daddy, is he here? Did you get Xander back?" Lily asked as she met her father for a hug.

He nodded kissing his daughter's dark head. "Sweetie, we got both Xander and your niece back."

Lily leaned back and peered up at her father. "She's here? Can I see here?"

"Yes, she's here Angel and Patrick are staying the night and then going to leave in the morning. She may still be up so you might be able to peak in. I'm going to wait for your mother." He said to Lily who barely allowed him finish before she took off into the house. Sighing he turned to Chloe and Elena who were still in the process of getting out of the limo. He walked over to assist them.

Xavier came out of the Kiriakis Estate to see his wife just getting out of the limo. Without a word he walked over to her. "Lena, cher."

"X," Elena replied nodding to her husband as she moved out of Chloe's way so that the other woman could get the sleeping child out. "Did you get anymore information about the file?"

"No, not yet. We've got a conference call tomorrow with someone who can tell us more." Xavier answered as he took her bag from off her shoulder. "In the meantime, Kiriakis has offered to let us stay on his estate until we get the matter settled."

Elena nodded as they headed into the house. "So how is our granddaughter? Is she as beautiful as the picture?"

"She 's even better looking in person, believe me." Xavier answered as he leaned to kiss his wife, putting an arm over her shoulders as they entered the foyer.

Philip took his sleeping son out of Chloe's arms. "Ben, we won't need you the rest of the night." He said to the limo driver who nodded and returned the limo.

"You know Philip when you said you had a car waiting for us I assumed that you actually meant a car." Chloe added as she turned with Philip to head into the house with his hand on the small of her back.

"I just wanted you to be comfortable."

"I know," she paused in the foyer. "Look, after we put down Nicky we need to talk."

"Of course, I have something I need to tell you also." He added as the couple bypassed the hassle of seeing everyone and went directly to their wing of the house. They first took Nicky to his bedroom where Philip placed him in his bed and Chloe changed the child out of his clothes into a pair of pajamas. He never even stirred as his parents kissed him goodnight and tucked the covers around him.

Together they walked short distance their suite. Chloe walking into their sitting room kicked off the black stiletto pumps took the pins out of her hair and finally let herself loose. She took off her pearl earrings, dropping them into a silver ornate jewelry box. Philip was undoing the sleeves of his dress shirt when he came to stand behind her, propping his hands on her waist, letting his chin drop down to her shoulder. With one hand he pushed her long cascading hair to one side as he nuzzled her neck. "So what did you have to tell me?"

Chloe paused to gaze at Philip's reflection in the mirror. "You know I love you."

He nodded dropping his hands to lie on her stomach as he pulled her back against his broad chest. "And I love you too."

Her hand dropped over his. "I'm glad. I've been having a hard time coming to terms with the revelation that you have another daughter."

"I know that Chloe and—" he started but Chloe turned in his arms to lie a finger over his mouth to stop him from talking.

"Philip, you don't have to say anything. I talked to Elena on the plane and I have a better idea of what you went through with Tara. Though, I'm not saying that I'm completely over everything because I'm not I-I just understand the situation a lot more than I did before."

Philip smiled glad to have his wife back on his side. Now that everything was starting to fall back into place he couldn't hide his happiness.

"Are you going to say anything Philip?"

"Ah, no. I don't think you need me to say anything." He answered releasing his wife so that she could finish getting undressed. She went into her closet to pull out something to sleep in.

"What did you have to tell me?" She called.

"I met Kieran's father yesterday."

She popped her head out of the closet. "Oh and how was he? Did he make a good impression on you?"

Philip smirked. "Well, let's just say that Brady didn't care too much for him or vice versa. Of course I like him already."

"You're a bad man Philip." She said laughing.

He settled down in the chaise lounge outside Chloe's expansive walk-in closet. "Seriously, though he seemed like a nice enough guy. He and Xavier apparently grew up and went into the Naval Academy together."

"I didn't know that. But, it's probably a good thing considering that you like Xavier don't you?"

"He's an interesting character, I'll give you that. In any case he helped me get back our granddaughter and is very self-aware."

"He's not the only one." Chloe mumbled quietly as she came out her closet wrapping a robe around her before walking past Philip to the bathroom.

"What does that mean?" His eyes trailing after her as joined her in the bathroom.

She was in the middle of preparing her bath in the black marble tub gathering salts from the sill against the wall, when Philip came upon her. "When Elena and I were talking on the plane she mentioned some very interesting things about Victor and Titan."

He leaned back against the doorway watching as his wife wind and wrapped her glorious long hair a messy knot high on her head securing it with a white clip. "What _interesting_ things?

"Did you know that Elena worked undercover at Titan for a while?"

"No did she tell you anything about it?"

"Not really. She just said that Victor used her to find Tara and set it up so he could threaten her sister." She replied absently as she took off the robe and placing it on the hook beside the tub and slowly eased herself down into the bubbles. Sighing as she closed her eyes, she leaned her head back against the padded rim. "Philip, I think you should talk with her tomorrow. She may be able to tell what exactly happened. Until then why don't you join me in this tub?" Lazily lolling her head to the side her eyes swept up in invitation.

He broke into a full force smile with dimples evident as he unbuttoned his dress shirt dropped it to the floor and seconds later the rest of his clothes came off. "What kind of business, man would I be to refuse an offer like that?" He eased down into the tub behind Chloe. "We'll just deal with everything else tomorrow."

* * *

Angel woke to her daughter crawling over her body to pull at her disheveled hair. Eva beamed down at her mother showing her three front teeth.

"Genevieve Annabelle Cabrea, what are you doing up this early?" Angel asked as she moved into a sitting position against her pillows. She lifted the baby and propped the child against her legs bring the baby's hand to her lips. "Mama missed you so-o much."

"Mama," Eva giggled as she clapped her hands together against her mother's cheeks.

"Oh you know Mama so well. But where's Daddy? Where did Daddy go?" Angel posed the question to her daughter in between tickles to the little girl's stomach.

"He's right here," Patrick said from the bathroom doorway as he came through the settle on the other side of the bed next to his wife. "Eva Diva, you weren't supposed to wake Mommy." He lifted the child onto his lap. "I turned my head for one second." He smacked kisses on her little cheeks as she grabbed handfuls of her father's hair.

"What time did she wake up? I didn't hear her."

"She's only been up a little while. When I got back from the shower she was standing up in her crib."

"Ah, I guess that means its time for someone's breakfast." Angel sighed. "Tell you what how about you take Miss Eva Diva downstairs for breakfast while I take quick shower and get her clothes out for the day."

Patrick nodded. "That sounds like a plan to me." He rose off the bed then propping the baby on his hip, he headed out of the room.

"Bye, baby." Angel waved at the baby as she and Patrick left the room. Figuring that she could get her clothes out first, then shower, Angel pulled out her suitcase. She searched through the case until she found a shirt and jeans. As she debated on what would be cool enough for Eva to wear she spotted something sticking out of Eva's jean pocket from the clothes the baby had worn the day before. She picked up the tiny pair of jeans and pulled out the torn piece of paper. Putting the jeans under her arms she unfolded the note and read it. It was a note from her cousin Charlie to his parents.

_'Mom and Dad,_

_I'm OK. Been reading OOTP I'm all most finished so please save me soon _

_So I can read HBP. Hope to see you soon._

_Love,_

_Charlie'_

"Where did you say you found this?" Xavier asked waving the note again as he reread it.

"It was in the pocket of Eva's jeans." Angel answered as she leaned forward on the island. "So this is good news right? I mean that's Charlie's handwriting?"

Elena glanced up from where she was playing peek-a-boo with Eva who was settled in her lap. She shielded her face with her hands and Eva pulled them away. "Peek-a-boo. It's definitely Charlie's handwriting. I'd recognize it anywhere."

"This is good then so you know Charlie's okay." Patrick said as he sat down next to Angel with his cup of coffee.

Xavier nodded as he brought small slip of paper up to the light he stared at it for a moment. "I think we have more than that, Lena look at the paper tell me what you see?" He handed the paper to his wife.

Elena wrapped one around the baby's waist and with her free hand took the paper closer for examination and then held it up against the light. "It's government issue memorandum. Specifically, the FBI but the emblem is outdated, at least by twenty years or so."

"Exactly what I thought." Xavier replied taking the baby from his wife.

"So what does that mean?" Patrick questioned as he glanced from his father to Elena.

"It means that our theory maybe correct which ultimately means we can find Charlie much easier now." Elena answered standing as she kissed Eva's plumb baby cheeks.

Meanwhile in another part of the house Lily was talking to her father about her newly aborted plans for the summer. She usually had a list of activities and things she wanted to see and do before the end of the summer but because of Titan's current problems and the attempted kidnapping those plans had to change.

"Daddy, I know that everything is crazy but I don't see why I can't have a few friends over for a _small_ party."

"Lily," Philip sighed sitting back in his chair shaking his head.

Lily moved around the desk to stand in front of her father. "Okay so not a party, a get together."

"Liliana, put it anyway you want, the answer will still be no. But," he raised hand to forestall her next rant. "How about a little deal. When everything is back to normal or as normal as it was before this whole ordeal I will let you have a party." Liliana opened her mouth to protest again but he quickly continued, "And you can invite _anyone_ you want."

Lily forestalled from her previous protest arched a brow quizzically, "Anyone, Daddy?"

"Yes, anyone." He could see the wheels turning his daughter's head. "Who exactly do you have in mind?"

"Kieran, of course, Daddy." She replied with a tossing of her hair behind her shoulder. "Mom told me you met Mr. O'Neal yesterday." She inclined her head to the left. "So, did you like him?"

"Yes actually, I did. And for the record when I said you could invite anyone I meant it, even him. Mind you, Lily that all I'm agreeing to is that you can invite him to the party, **not** that you may date him. Our original deal as far as you dating still stands."

"But Daddy," Lily whined moving to perch on her father's desk.

Philip sighed as he stood up, he should have known this would come up. After all Chloe had tried to warn him. "Don't whine Lily, it's not becoming of a Kiriakis."

"But Daddy, you won't even consider changing—,"

"Liliana Jade Kiriakis, this is not, I repeat, **not** up for discussion. You made a promise to me and I expect and will see that you keep it. End of story."

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and rose off of the desk glaring at her father. As she stalked toward him with brown eyes glittering with anger, Philip merely stood waiting for her to speak. "It's not fair, Dad. I made that deal when I was nine and not even interested in boys. Now, I finally meet a great guy who I happen to really, really like and you're telling me you won't even consider it."

"Lily, please do not press me on this issue." He warned sternly. "Because you will not like the consequences and also let me remind you that the fact that you entered into a relationship with this boy _without_ acknowledging his existence to either your mother nor I and has not indebted either of us into your favor." There was a knock on the library door. He swore as he glanced down at his white gold Rolex that ironically had been given to him by his daughter for father's day the previous year, it was time to call Nicole.

"We will continue this discussion later, Lily." He gestured for her to proceed out the door as he opened it to Xavier and company awaiting them.

"I can't wait," Lily sneered as he escorted her to the door.

"Later Liliana," he nodded for her to leave and then watched as his daughter went out in a huff, her hair flying behind her as she did.

Everyone else came into the room except for Chloe who was busy elsewhere. Angel had noticed that her half-sister left the room angry and asked her father what was wrong.

Philip moved back behind the desk as he frustratingly ran his hand through his hair. "She's just upset with me because I'm not letting her date." He answered as he noted that Brady was present for the meeting but Mimi wasn't.

"I could go talk to her," Angel offered talking this chance as an attempt to get to know her sister better.

Surprised by the offer, Philip nodded. "Please, please do if you wouldn't mind."

Angel shook her head. "No, I wouldn't besides I want to check on Eva anyway. You can just start without me." She glanced at her husband who nodded and then left in search of her sister.

* * *

Philip installed the video phone hook-up and dialed the number to Nicole Walker-Reed's residence. After a few rings, Nicole answered and her image popped up on the screen.

The years had been kind to blonde; she seemed to have maintained her beauty so that now as she was in her mid-fifties she could past for at least twenty years younger. "Philip, I'm on a tight schedule and I don't want to be late for my next appointment so can we make this snappy."

"Of course, Nicole, I just have a few questions I would like to ask you. Do you know anything about Rex and Victor having a meeting before my father died?"

Nicole sighed as she drank her martini. "They met once before Victor's death, it was a private meeting after business hours."

"Do you know what the meeting was about?"

"I just said it was a private meeting, I didn't exactly have an invitation for it. I was never privy to any of his personal meetings. As it was your father was in the process of throwing me _out_ of the business."

"Those things aside you do know what the meeting was about don't you?" Philip prompted knowing that even if she hadn't been present, she always knew more than she was telling.

Nicole smirked putting down her martini. "Philip, you know me too well. Tell me again why is it you and I never got together?"

"Besides the fact that you married my brother and were sleeping with my father, you remind me too much of my mother."

She chuckled, "Now, Philip that hurts, Kate and I are nothing alike."

"Nicole could we get back to the meeting," he suggested wanting to get back to the reason for his call.

"Oh, all right. If I must I didn't know any of the details but I do know that Rex and his sister were there to negotiate the sale of some property that Victor had previously stolen from some poor guy. But it's not like everything he did was the on the level anyway. In any case that was the jist of the meeting, not that he shared any of those details with me."

"That's all?" Philip asked looking beyond the video phone at Xavier and Elena who nodded slightly acknowledging that they needed to talk.

"As far as I know, now are we finished?"

Philip nodded, "Tell me brother I'll call him later."

"Philip, I'm not Austin's secretary, if you want to talk to him you'll have call him yourself. Have a nice day!" Nicole clicked of the phone and the screen went black.

"Well that was enlightening." Elena said as she stalked across the floor pacing. "So Rex and Cassie got some property from Victor or at least they tried to get some property but couldn't and the kidnappers who have my son, have it. I think that's one coincidence too many."

"What are you going to do now?" Patrick asked from his seat.

"We're going to haul Rex's ass down here and get him to answer some questions. I want to know what's so damn important about this property." Philip answered as he moved from behind his desk to stand in front of it.

Elena snorted as she paced, her pony tailed hair swinging. "Like he's going to just tell you what he and Victor had going on before the old man died. It's been seven years since his death and dear _Recando_ never once mentioned the meeting, has he?"

"That doesn't prove anything; Rex has no reason to lie." Chloe offered as she entered the room.

"Did you see Mimi off?" Philip asked concerned.

"Yes, don't change the subject" She asked as she crossed her arms over the white dress shirt she was wearing with the beige tank top peeking underneath, which was obviously a man's shirt.

Elena paused mid-stride to stare at her husband; brows arched indicating that she wanted him to speak.

Xavier nodded. "It seems that your cousin may have some inside knowledge into that why the kidnappers wanted in that file they took."

"I'm sure he can tell you everything you want to know, look I'll just call him." Chloe said as she took the gold diamond encrusted studs out of her ear as she walked over to the phone. She dialed the number to Stefano's island hideaway. She waited as the line rang; on the fourth ring someone answered the phone.

"Oh hi Brandon, I didn't realize you—," she paused as she listened to what he said to her. "What? No! It can't be true." Chloe cried suddenly as the phone slipped from her shaking hand.

Philip walked over to his wife and picked up the phone. "This is Philip. Brandon wh—," he paused. "Are you sure?" He asked as he pulled Chloe into his arms, his wife was frozen with shock.

"What's wrong?" Elena watched the pair with concern.

Philip replaced the phone on the hook. "It's Stefano," he started.

"What about Stefano?"

"He's dead." Chloe's hands clutched at Philip's shirt. "Somebody shot him." His arms went around her as she wept for the death of her grandfather.

* * *

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